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BJP-BSP may team up for the third time?

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Rumours are rife that the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, one-time alliance partners, may soon team up for the third time.

While there has been talk of the two parties tying up for quite some time, what added credence to the gossip were the recent remarks made by top BJP leaders here last week to address the party's state council meet at the local Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters.

Most of the speakers attacked Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and former BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh, who was now heading his own created political outfit, the Rashtriya Kranti Party. What was absent was the usual attack against one-time political ally Bahujan Samaj Party or its leader, Mayawati.

Far from attacking Mayawati, Union Minister for Human Resources Development Murli Manohar Joshi and UP's Public Works Minister Kalraj Misra hinted at the need to bring the upper castes and dalits together.

After Kalyan Singh was ousted, one section of the BJP has been advocating a fresh alliance with the BSP and the possibility of this revival has grown after it's present ally, the Loktantrik Congress Party (LCP) threatened to part ways. The BJP lobby that wants the BSP in believes the party of the backwards could well replace the LCP. It also flayed Kalyan Singh for snapping ties with the BSP.

"At least there was only one leader to be tackled in the BSP; in the LCP, every one is a law unto himself," said a senior BJP minister. Asked how the BJP leadership would handle the unpredictable Kanshi Ram and Mayawati, known for their efforts to aid their party's cause, he shot back, "So you think the state is any better now?" According to him, "Perhaps it was easier to deal with one person commanding a following rather than with individuals, each of whom want to have his own way."

The BJPs failure to establish its credibility over the years is one reason why its leadership is seeking an alliance partner. Though assembly elections were still about 20 months away, panchayat election in the state are due in the next two months.

The party's image has been affected by the infighting that hasn't ended after Kalyan Singh's departure. And rampant corruption at the ministerial and bureaucratic levels had damaged the party's position. Party leaders realise that it won't be easy to return to power without a strong partner. Its current allies, most of them breakaway groups from the BSP and the Congress, have no political base of their own.

Some top BJP leaders have reportedly held closed-door parleys with Kanshi Ram and Mayawati in New Delhi. Both sides lay down some conditions, it appears. While the BJP sought a guarantee of a long-term relationship, the BSP wanted to ensure Maywati an undisturbed term as chief minister.

As a goodwill gesture, BJP was understood to have agreed to give the "desired" postings to some of Mayawati's "blue-eyed" bureaucrats and police officers. Many of them have been upset ever since Kalyan Singh pulled the rug from under Mayawati's feet and staged a political coup to establish himself in power in Lucknow in 1996. Highly-placed sources said some of these bureaucrats were being "rehabilitated", by being given prized jobs as the first sop to Mayawati.

Obviously, both the BJP and the BSP felt a need for an ally. While the BSP seems to fear a possible future alliance between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Kalyan Singh that could together erode the BSP vote bank, the BJP fears a SP-BSP combine.

The only way to prevent this was for both parties to strike a deal. According to the possible pact, the BJP could prop up Mayawati as UP's chief minister and let its own nominee play second fiddle as the deputy chief minister. This could help secure the BJP's position at the Centre.

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