Lucknow 10th September : If it’s a matter of alternatives the party opposition in Uttar Pradesh does not have any. Opposition parties are prepared to support any leader who opposes the Prime Minister Narendra Modi If they are willing to confront the BJP.
Some opposition parties are reluctant to endorse West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a potential Prime Ministerial contender the responsibility for the post is likely to be handed over to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take on the BJP in 2024.
In addition, Mamata Banerjee has already declared she will announce Nitish Kumar, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav would join forces in the 2024 election.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav who met recently with Nitish Kumar, when Nitish Kumar paid an informal visit to the veteran SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was admitted to the Medanta hospital in Gurugram and has stated that his party will be a part of and support Nitish Kumar in contesting the BJP in the 2024 elections.
The Samajwadi Party, in any situation, has no choice left in the issue.The alliance has left the party in Uttar Pradesh and there is a silent uprising in the making in the party’s ranks.
Akhilesh’s jolly mingling with Mamata Banerjee in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections could not yield any results for the SP.
Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress has no base in Uttar Pradesh and the Bengali population is not enough to have any an impact in the elections.
Akhilesh has also met with Telangana Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao, however, the issue is similar because Rao has no base in UP.
By backing Nitish as the PM’s candidate, the SP hopes to win at least a portion of the Kurmi vote in UP.
Sources in the SP camp have said that the SP would always favor Nitish as its prime ministerial contender over Mamata or Rao because with Nitish Kumar the SP could tap into Kurmi voters.
After the death of the former Union Minister Beni Prasad Varma, the SP is without a Kurmi leader that can draw voters to its party.
Kurmi votes have been largely with the BJP and its allies.Apna Dal is a Kurmi-centric party.
JD(U) sources have said sources said that Nitish Kumar is eager to increase the number of supporters for his party in Uttar Pradesh and has even appointed former MP Dhananjay Singh of Jaunpur as the general secretary of the JD(U) party’s national branch.
The SP is optimistic of the possibility of forming an alliance with the JD(U) that could last beyond 2024 in the event that it endorses Nitish Kumar for the candidate for the post of prime minister.
The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is an all-weather ally of the Samajwadi Party and has eight MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, is also expected to follow the SP line.
According to an RLD insider, Jayant Chaudhary is in no mood to break the alliance, as his primary goal is to build the base of his party in the state legislature.
“RLD will join with the SP and will also support Nitish Kumar as Jayant Chaudhary is a prominent activist for farmers to oppose the BJP and youth against the Agnipath scheme which suggests that he will not join with the BJP,” said a party leader.
In the case of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) the president Mayawati is unsure of her political choices.
The party’s leaders admit, though under the terms of anonymity that ‘Behenji’ the name by which she is known in circles of the party — could end in supporting the BJP.
“Mayawati has already burned her bridges with the SP and Congress.She has publicly backed BJP candidate in the last elections of Vice-President and President.We are pretty sure that she will vote with the BJP again in 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior leader of the party.
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