http://www.indianexpress.com/news/2012-bsp-eyes-reserved-constituencies/639734/
2012: BSP eyes reserved constituencies Sanjay Singh Posted online: Tue Jun 29 2010, 02:09 hrs Lucknow : In view of the 2012 Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has started laying special focus on reserved Assembly constituencies. Wiser after the poor show in the last Lok Sabha polls, when the BSP won only two seats in the reserved category, Mayawati seems to be in no mood of taking any chances this time around. “Taking a lesson from her party’s defeat in most of the reserved seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the CM does not want to leave any room for Opposition parties, particularly the Congress, to grow further in these (reserved) constituencies. She has asked her trusted lieutenant and state PWD Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui to concentrate on party affairs in reserved constituencies,” said a BSP leader. The BSP had created a history of sorts in the 2007 Assembly polls after it clinched 62 of the total 89 seats that went to polls under the reserved constituencies. Party insiders said the CM has separated the party affairs of the reserved Assembly constituencies from the BSP’s main organisation. Siddiqui has been asked to constitute organisational committees at the booth, sector and Assembly levels, besides forming Bhaichara committees in these constituencies, said the leader, adding that Siddiqui not only has good knowledge of the demographic structure of the reserved seats, but is also a known face among party cadres. Besides, Siddiqui is one BSP leader who can ensure proper coordination among the party cadres and the caste-based “Bhaichara committees” of the party. Sources said the BSP’s top priority is to first strengthen its “social engineering formula” that, it said, had provided the thrust for its succcess in the 2007 Assembly elections. The party had then credited the same formula for its success in reserved constituencies, saying it was the voters from upper castes who made the difference in these constituenices. Mayawati has already asked the party’s “Brahmin mascot” and national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra to reconstitute the Brahmin Bhaichara committees across the state. “Mishra will start an extensive tour of the state in September. Besides the 10 Assembly constituencies, he will focus on at least two reserved constituencies each month,” the BSP leader said. The exercise is meant to counter the Congress’s possible growth in reserved constituencies. “The plan is to check Dalits tilting towards the Congress. If the BSP is successful in wooing the Brahmins and Muslims, it would be a clear indicator that the BSP will win these seats. It would then be difficult for Opposition parties like Congress, to target the BSP Dalit votebank,” said the leader. Mayawati has also started centralising her party’s old horses from different states to UP. Veer Singh, who was party coordinator in Maharashtra, is now handling party affairs in Agra zone. Similarly, Sewa Ram from Uttarakhand and Narendra Patel from Gujarat have been asked to expand the party’s base in Kanpur and Jhansi zones, respectively. BSP protest against fuel price hike on July 6 In protest against the recent hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will hold demonstrations at all its district headquarters on July 6. The decision was taken at a meeting between BSP chief Mayawati and her party functionaries on Monday. Mayawati said the increase in prices of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosene made it clear that the Congress had nothing to do with the common people. She alleged this particular step was meant to benefit those capitalists who enjoyed good relations with the UPA and its allies and who provided them with financial support to contest elections. She said the price hike would fuel the fire of inflation and the decision to free petrol prices from administrative control would lead to increase in the price of petrol at regular intervals. ENS ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. 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