It would be worth mentioning here that former chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati had earlier announced that her party would not contest by-elections as Samajwadi Party will misuse the official machinery in favour of SP candidates.

Former chief minister Mayawati had said that since there would not be direct involvement of central election commission in the by-elections, her party would not waste energy in these elections.

The fact remains that these vacancies were created as 11 MLAs from BJP and one from Apna Dal had won to Lok Sabha and Mulayam Singh Yadav who had also won from Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency vacated his Mainpuri seat.

At a time when Congress has yet to recover from humiliating defeat in Lok Sabha polls, BSP’s boycotting the polls, will lead to direct contest between BJP and Samajwadi Party.

Dalit expert and former IG Police Mr SR Darapuri said that in his opinion there was secret understand between BJP and the BSP supreme and that is why Mayawati left the field open for BJP to strengthen saffron brigade in UP.

Darapuri said that Mayawati had become chief minister thrice with the help of BJP and shared dais with Narendra Modi in Gujarat polls few years back. That is why she decided to avoid contesting the by-elections.

Talking about 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Darapuri said that there had been erosion in core vote bank of BSP and a large number of dalits had shifted to BJP which resulted in zero seat for party in the elections. Mayawati was shocked that party could not open its account anywhere in the country.

Darapuri said that dalit vote bank of BSP was unhappy with Mayawati who gave key positions in the party organization to Brahmins in the name of sarv samaj. Darapuri said that founder Kansiram had prepared dalit vote bank for their fight against brahminical order which saw discrimination against them for past several generations.

Giving the reason for shift in dalit vote bank, Darapuri said that when dalits realised that Mayawati was supporting forces of Hindutva, then why not go directly to BJP and ensure victory for BJP in the name of Narendra Modi.

Mayawati has also realized that her voters had shifted to Hindutva forces. She herself admitted this fact before media in Lucknow on August 23 when she said that that Hindutva organisations like BJP would make dalits as slaves.

BSP supremo said that dalits who joined Hindutva forces would be harassed and would not be allowed to pursue any profession or any trade. She warned that dalits would be subjected to atrocities as they had experienced during medieval age.

Mayawati said that Dr B R Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism after seeing oppression of dalits. She further said that had they were not facing opposition and discrimination, there would not have any need for reservation for SC and ST.

BSP supremo said that she was aware of nefarious design of Hindutva forces and BJP to woo dalits and other backwards also.

CPI national secretary Atul Anjan said that communal forces were active in UP and national media reported that more than 600 incidents of communal violence took place in the state after the installation of Narendra Modi government at the centre and 60 cent were held in those areas close to 12 assembly constituencies going for polls in September. And more then 60 incidents were between dalits and Muslims and BJP-RSS leaders were seen to be siding with dalits. .He said that communal forces had been active in creating rift between dalits and Muslims in western UP.

Veteran political activist Dr Ramesh Dixit said that Mayawati will send message to her voters to support BJP to see arch rival Mulayam Singh Yadav’s candidates losing in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and 12 assembly constituencies.

Ramesh Dixit opined that by-polls were very important for BJP and Samajwadi party in number game but BSP may end up in losing its core vote bank by not contesting the polls. He further said that whatever support Mayawati had in upper caste, has already gone to BJP and now saffron brigade would try to enlarge its base to capture power in UP in 2017 as BJP national president Amit Shah said recently in Lucknow. (IPA Service)