Punjab: SAD tie-up cheers BSP cadres, but ‘quality’ of seats vexes them

JALANDHAR: While the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) cadres are joyous over the alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), reactions from BSP cadres are mixed. Murmuring has already started in BSP, some even sharing it on social media. It’s more about quality of seats Mayawati’s party has got than the number, as common refrain is that the outfit has not got some seats where it was really strong.
BSP workers held a meeting at Phillaur. They were peeved at leaving out of Phillaur and some other seats where party had much better prospects. They authorised BSP district president Amritpal Bhonsle and other functionaries to talk to the party high command to urge them to negotiate further with Sukhbir Badal-led Akali Dal to get seats where they have decent vote share.
BSP has been very strong on Phillaur, Banga and Adampur. At present, these constituencies have Akali Dal MLAs, all three with BSP background.
The party had secured more votes than the Akali Dal in the 2019 parliament elections here. While BSP cadres feel that at least four other seats where they have considerable vote share — Sham Chaurasi, Chabbewal, Garhshankar (all three in district Hoshiarpur) and Balachaur — have also been kept by SAD.
While Garhshankar has AAP MLA, the rest three have Congress MLAs. As compared to most of the other seats, BSP has been maintaining decent vote share on these seats. Garhshankar was the only seat it won in 1997. At Sham Chaurasi and Balachaur, the party had secured more than 20,000 votes in the 2012 elections, while in 2017 its vote share fell on these also as AAP dented the party’s results across the state.
On the other hand, BSP has got five seats – Amritsar North, Amritsar Central, Pathankot, Bhoa, Bassi Pathana and Payal, where its votes were in three digits in the 2017 assembly election. Out of these six, at two seats of Amritsar, it could not four touch four digit mark even in 2012, and at Pathankot it got just 1,129 votes.
Nawanshahr, Phagwara and Kartarpur and Ludhiana North are the four seats where party polled 10,000 or more votes in the previous elections. At Nawanshahr and Phagwara, it has secured over 20,000 votes in past polls. “We had been advocating alliance in the previous elections too as contesting solo has been bringing down party’s graph, but most of our cadres are peeved at not getting their best bets,” said a BSP leader.
“This alliance is good politically as well as socially. It is good for both the parties and the state but when one looks at the seats given to BSP, it becomes clear that interests of the party have not been guarded. At the cost of Nawanshahr, Phagwara and Kartarpur, other good seats have been sacrificed. Even Jalandhar Cantt is a far better seat for the party as compared to several other. It seems that central leadership has not been properly briefed,” said former BSP state secretary Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, who had contested assembly and parliamentary election in 2012 and 2014 on party ticket but resigned from the post in 2019.
However, BSP state president Jabir Singh Garhi said that cadres were happy with the alliance. “The party finalised the seats as long term strategy to expand its footprint. In give and take, both sides leave. Akali Dal has very good presence at some of the seats left to us. We are sure that BSP would win most of the seats it has gotten,” he said.
WHAT ALLIANCE MEANS FOR RIVALS?
AAP: Comparison of votes polled by BSP in the 2012 and 2017 assembly polls shows that AAP took away most of BSP votes. It was the major reason behind the party being reduced to just 1.5 % vote share in Punjab, and barring Phillaur, its candidates loosing security deposits at all 110 seats they contested. Most of the BSP voters returned to the party in the 2019 parliamentary elections when it was in alliance with the Punjab Democratic Alliance. Now in alliance with Akali Dal, BSP hopes to regain the lost ground, which could leave AAP hurting.
BJP: After severing ties with the Akali Dal, BJP has started waving Dalit card. Its state organising secretary Dinesh Kumar has been on record saying that Haryana model can be replicated in Punjab – to unite non-Jat Sikhs. “Here also 82% not-Jatt Sikhs people have never got opportunity to have proper share in power,” he had earlier said and then later BJP national general secretary Tarun Chuch announced that they would have a Dalit CM. The controversial ‘ardas’ at village Beer Talab (Bathinda) gurdwara, is being seen as a polarising attempt as police have already named a BJP leader in the case. However, BSP with roots in Dalit identity politics coming together with SAD, can frustrate attempts to create a rift between Jat Sikhs and Dalits.
CONGRESS: The Congress was weakened in Punjab once BSP rose on the political spectrum. The equation is again of Dalit vote share. In 2012, when the Congress hoped to gain at a few reserved seats in Doaba region out of anger among Ravidassia/Adi-dharmi voters due to killing of Dera Ballan deputy head Sant Ramanand in 2009, it was BSP which gained at the pockets where the Dera had strong following. The Congress lost the crucial seats to Akali Dal. BSP-PDA alliance in the 2019 parliamentary elections also made things tough for the Congress.