Lok Sabha elections: How SP-BSP battled BJP blitz by going minimalist

LUCKNOW: They managed to stitch one of the most unlikely alliances, and went on to prove all sceptics wrong by pulling off the months-long joint campaign without hiccup.
Both on equal footing, SP and BSP ran a very minimalist poll campaign. Unlike previous polls, SP didn’t release even a single advertisement on social media this time, unlike full-fledged campaigns with ‘Mann Se Hain Mulayam’ and ‘Ummeed Ki Cycle’ taglines earlier.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav seems to have followed senior alliance partner Mayawati as BSP never issues advertisements on social media and relies on people-to-people connect and holding rallies.
The two parties focussed almost entirely on keeping the campaign low-key, the only exception being around 20 joint rallies addressed by Mayawati, Akhilesh and RLD chief Ajit Singh. No larger-than-life cut-outs or hoardings were put up by either party. “We refrained from social media campaign as part of strategy and focussed on public meetings and nukkad sabhas,” Akhilesh said.
SP also did not release any campaign on television or cable networks like previous polls. SP spokesperson Udayveer Singh said, “We adpted a simple strategy. First, we spoke about failures of BJP government. Then, we made people aware of schemes under SP and BSP governments from which they benefited and how they were stopped when BJP came to power.”
A senior BSP member said that even if SP and BSP had pooled resources, they would still have not matched BJP’s campaign and hence opted for joint rallies.
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