New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) With Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh expected within about seven months to elect 403 members of the Legislative Assembly, major parties have convened leaders to chalk out elaborate political plans.
On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) held separate strategic meetings in Lucknow. A day earlier, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief and Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary shared a blueprint for the upcoming poll with his party leaders in the state capital.
The BJP held a state workshop with about 700 office‑bearers, while the SP organised a meeting with district and city presidents to review voter list work. BSP district presidents met to brainstorm on organisation, economic strength and preparations for next year’s elections.
These meetings mark formal preparations for the next electoral battle in India’s most politically consequential state, where the road to Delhi is often said to run through Lucknow.
The BJP, which has dominated Uttar Pradesh politics since 2017, is working to consolidate its position through meticulous booth‑level organisation. Though Kalyan Singh formed a government in June 1991, he ruled for less than a year‑and‑a‑half before President’s Rule was imposed after the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya. He returned five years later, but subsequent BJP terms saw Chief Ministers Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh. Since 2017, however, a BJP Chief Minister has remained consistently in power, now eyeing a possible third successive term.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and senior leaders have emphasised the need to translate governance records into electoral dividends. The BJP’s voter base remains anchored in upper castes, non‑Yadav OBCs and urban voters, but the party has made deliberate efforts to expand its reach among Dalits and women. Its strategy evolves from the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, combining Hindutva mobilisation with welfare schemes such as free rations and housing.
Main contender, the Akhilesh Yadav‑led SP, is attempting to rebuild by broadening its traditional Yadav‑Muslim base into what he calls the “PDA” coalition. Akhilesh has defined “P” as Pichhda (backwards) or Pandits (Brahmins), “D” as Dalits, and “A” as Alpsankhyak (minorities) or Aadhi Aabadi (women).
He has repeatedly demanded a caste census, positioning himself as a champion of social justice, a calculated move to counter the BJP’s Hindutva narrative with caste‑based arithmetic. Tactical tie‑ups with smaller caste‑based parties are likely. However, strained relations with the Congress after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections make a formal alliance uncertain, despite his visible bonhomie with Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in Parliament.
The BSP, led by Mayawati, is attempting a revival after years of decline. Once the architect of the Dalit‑Brahmin Sarvajan coalition that brought her to power in 2007, Mayawati has struggled to retain relevance in the post‑2014 period. The BSP’s challenge lies in re‑establishing credibility among marginalised groups who have drifted toward the BJP. Mayawati’s reluctance to enter alliances has often left her party isolated, though tactical seat adjustments cannot be ruled out.
For the Congress, it remains a struggle for relevance in a state where its decline has been long and steady. From dominating Uttar Pradesh in the 1950s through the 1980s, producing national leaders including the Nehru‑Gandhi family, the party began losing ground after 1989 with the rise of Mandal politics and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
By the turn of the century, the Congress was reduced to a marginal player. Its alliances, such as with the SP in 2017, failed to revive fortunes. In the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress won only two seats out of about 400 contested, underscoring its collapse.
With weak leadership, lack of issues and no clear social base, the Congress faces an existential challenge. For the BSP, survival is at stake. For the SP, winning the state would mark a return to relevance and strengthen Akhilesh Yadav’s bargaining power. For the BJP, retaining Uttar Pradesh is crucial to continuity and national dominance.
–IANS
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