The Hindu : Front Page : BSP to field 20 Brahmin candidates

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Wednesday, Apr 09, 2008
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BSP to field 20 Brahmin candidates

K.V. Subramanya

The party will go it alone in all the 224 Assembly constituencies

Mayawati to hold meeting today to finalise candidates’ list
Dalit-Brahmin combination worked wonders
in Uttar Pradesh polls

BANGALORE: Contrary to popular perception that it is a party of the Dalits, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to field non-Dalit candidates in 75 per cent of the constituencies in the Assembly elections.

With the Dalit-Brahmin combination working wonders for it in the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP is all set to adopt a similar strategy in Karnataka too. BSP chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati will hold a meeting with party leaders from Karnataka in New Delhi on Wednesday to finalise the list of candidates and discuss the poll strategy.

The list of candidates for the constituencies that go to polls in the first phase on May 10 will be announced before April 11, BSP State president Marasandra Muniyappa told The Hindu here on Tuesday.

The party is firm on contesting on its own in all the 224 constituencies. It will not enter into alliance with any party. “The Congress tried to strike an alliance with us. But we did not agree,” Mr. Muniyappa said.

Party ticket

The BSP would field Brahmin candidates in 20 constituencies. “I am sure that no other party will issue ticket to so many candidates from the Brahmin community. Like the Dalits, the Brahmins too have been ‘used and dumped’ by political parties,” he said.

To ensure that all castes and communities got fair representation, the BSP would earmark 30 per cent of the seats for Lingayats and Vokkaligas, 37 per cent for Other Backward Classes, 23 per cent for Dalits and 12 per cent for Muslims, Mr. Muniyappa said. “We are trying to bring in an understanding between the ‘upper’ and the ‘lower’ castes,” he said.

Referring to the party’s strength in Karnataka, Mr. Muniyappa said the BSP had a strong presence in all the districts except Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.

The BSP had held public meetings in 23 of the 28 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State. It had received good response from all sections of society, he said.

Mr. Muniyappa said that nearly 3,000 people from the Brahmin community had recently joined the party in Karwar. Mr. Muniyappa said that the BSP’s poll prospects would not be affected in any way because of its former State president B. Gopal joining the Congress. Leaders from other political parties would soon join the BSP, he said.

Impact on results

Although the BSP did not win a single seat in the 2004 Assembly elections, it made a serious impact on the results in several constituencies.

The party garnered sizeable Dalit votes, and this resulted in the defeat of Congress candidates in nearly two dozen constituencies.

The BSP, however, managed to win some seats during the recent elections to urban local bodies. The BSP opened its account in the Legislative Assembly when its candidate, Syed Zulfikar Hashmi, won the 1994 elections from Bidar. However, Mr. Hashmi’s victory was mainly because of his clout and the then political situation in Bidar.

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