MYSURU: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has decided to contest in all 224 Assembly constituencies in the forthcoming polls, is in talks with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) to jointly fight the three prominent parties in the state, BJP, Congress and JD(S). It is also seeking the support of progressive organisations across the state.
In the 2018 assembly polls, BSP was in alliance with JD(S) and contested in 20 seats, but won only in Kollegal (SC) assembly constituency. The party has now decided not to have an alliance or understanding with any of the three prominent parties. At the last polls, JD(s) supremo HD Deve Gowda and his son, ex-chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, had approached BSP supremo Mayawati for an alliance. It helped the then BSP’s state chief N Mahesh win the party’s lone seat in Karnataka.
However, Mahesh who was also inducted into the Ministry in the JD(S)-Congress coalition government, resigned from the ministry to join the BJP, putting the BSP and its cadres in an awkward position. The BSP — which has a considerable cadre base in minority-dominated constituencies and Raitha sangha in old Mysuru and a few North central Karnataka regions — now plans to support SDPI in Narashimaraja in Mysuru, KRRS in Melkote, besides some other seats.
The BSP leaders feel the combination of Bahujans-Muslims and farmers can set the tone for new social equations in Karnataka, besides making an impact in the state politics. The BSP has set its eyes on winning over the youth and educated voters in urban and rural areas and plans to highlight how various benefits like scholarships and fellowships were denied to SC/ST students by the BJP-ruled state governments.
BSP State President Krishna Murthy said talks are on with SDPI, KRRS and progressive organisations to provide an alternative to BJP, Congress and JD(S), in whom people have lost faith. Murthy said that they will make the presentation before Mayawati and will get her nod at the earliest to seal the pact.