The BSP has not entered into any alliances and has also been keen to shed the tag of being a 'B-team' of the BJP.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has entered the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh facing the twin challenge of retaining its support base among Dalits and establishing Akash Anand, party chief Mayawati's nephew, as her political successor.
In 2019, the BSP, in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal, won 10 Lok Sabha seats, second only to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
But any hopes that the party pinned on this result to suggest a revival was punctured in the 2022 assembly polls.
It could win only one of UP's 403 seats, and its vote share reduced to less than 13 per cent.
For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 28-year-old Anand has campaigned diligently, including addressing a public meeting in Nagina.
Nagina is one of the ten seats that the BSP won in 2019, but emerging Dalit leader, te Azad Samaj Party's Chandra Shekhar Azad is also contesting for this constituency.
But political observers say the challenge facing the BSP is far greater than merely settling the question of succession or appealing to the Dalit support base, especially the youth.
"The BSP's predicament in UP is grave now. The state has shown a propensity towards a two-party system, or bi-polar politics," said Ashok Bharti, who leads the National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations. In the 2022 assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party emerged a clear number two.
No alliance with BJP
For the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP has not entered into any alliances and has also been keen to shed the tag of being a 'B-team' of the BJP.
At a rally in Muzaffarnagar, Mayawati blamed the BJP of being 'casteist' and 'vindictive', adding that the ruling favoured big business.
She accused the Samajwadi Party of ignoring the interests of the Muslims.
In a recent interview, Anand called the Congress and SP as the 'B-team' of the BJP.
The BSP's list of candidates so far has 14 Muslim names, including Mohammad Irfan Saifi from Moradabad, Zeeshan Khan from Rampur, Shaukat Ali from Sambhal, and Athar Jamal Lari, who will fight against Narendra D Modi from Varanasi.
In 2019, the BSP performed well in western UP, winning Nagina, Saharanpur, Bijnor and Amroha from the 16 seats that voted in UP in the first two phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
But the BSP's list also has a significant number of Brahmins, like Rakesh Dwivedi from Akbarpur, Manish Tripathi from Mirzapur, and Dayashankar Mishra from Basti.
An uphill battle
According to Shashikant Pandey, professor, department of political science at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow, the BSP should have gone for an alliance.
Professor Pandey, however, believes that the party has fielded candidates "judiciously:.
"This time, they seem to be trying to shun the image of a B-team," he said. "This can be harmful for both, the INDIA bloc as well as the BJP."
Professor Pandey was, however, unsure about the BSP's eventual performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
"The party seems confident right now. In some seats, the BSP may be in the fight but it seems difficult for them to win a majority in the state," he added.
Another analyst, a faculty of political science at one of the colleges at Delhi University, said that the BSP's selection of candidates "will not hurt the BJP" as its vote bank and issues are different.
"But it would be interesting to see the next assembly elections in UP."
With inputs from Archis Mohan
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
