Senior BJP leader Kalraj Mishra who is leading the Rath Yatra from Varanasi is totally against any relationship with BSP either pre poll or post poll. He has the full support of former BJP chief minister Rajnath Singh who is leading the BJP rath yatra from Mathura and will be the main campaigner against the chief minister Mayawati during the election campaign.

As of now, officially, the entire leadership is talking of the BJP sitting in opposition if the Party can not form the government after the 2012 assembly elections. But the senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon has told the party workers in the state that the Party leadership should consider having post poll alliance in the interests of strengthening the Party. His view is that the BJP can make full use of any post poll tie up for its benefit in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Lalji has got support among a section of the district BJP leaders who have the feeling that the BJP on its own, may lose its support base if it is out of the new state government even after 2012 elections.

Some senior BJP leaders feel that the Party lost its support base for having backed BSP thrice. In fact due to this policy, BSP gained not only in terms of seats in the assembly but the BSP expanded its base at the expense of BJP. Rajnath Singh is so much against the BSP that he got 5,000 dalit workers at Party’s Dalit Swabhiman Convention taking oath that they would have no relations with BSP. Former BJP chief minister had not forgotten that in 2007, the voters punished BJP along with Samajwadi Party because they felt that BJP had become a B team of SP. This was conceded by the BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley himself after the assembly elections.

Meanwhile, former chief minister and leader of Jan Kranti Party Kalyan Singh said if BSP emerged as the single largest party, BJP would shed all inhibitions and announce its support for BSP to share power in the government in Uttar Pradesh and then bargain for seats with BSP for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Kalyan Singh said that he would ask electorate not to waste their vote by backing BJP as it would automatically support BSP. (IPA)