NEW DELHI, 17 September 2007 — Displaying a definite air of optimism about her party’s prospects, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is hopeful of repeating her success in Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the forthcoming state polls in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Keen to play a greater role in national politics, UP Chief Minister Mayawati has also begun preparing for Lok Sabha polls, she expects to be held sometime next year. With this aim, Mayawati began BSP’s campaign in Gujarat yesterday by addressing a rally in Vadodara.
Ahead of the rally, signaling her party’s aim to repeat its UP success in Gujarat also, Mayawati said: “If this could happen in UP, why can’t we do it in Gujarat?” “Whether we are weak or strong in any part of Gujarat, we will field all candidates in all 182 assembly constituencies in the state and will be successful as we were in UP elections,” she said.
Signaling that rather than align with other parties, she would welcome them in her party, Mayawati said that BSP’s doors were always open for leaders and workers who felt neglected or ignored by any party in the state. On Saturday evening, the BSP supremo inducted former Gujarat BJP minister Nalin Bhatt and 82 of his supporters into her party at a function.
Besides, senior BSP leaders are engaged in consolidating their party’s base in states where assembly elections are round the corner, party sources said. They are undertaking extensive tours of these states to win support of smaller parties and “disgruntled” leaders of other parties.
Mayawati’s close confidant Satish Misra, who played a key role in helping BSP gain the support of Brahmins in UP polls, is trying the same in Rajasthan through “Brahmin sammelans.” In addition, BSP workers have completed the preliminary exercise of giving the green signal to prospective candidates in almost 40 percent of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP.
