Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati would hold eight major rallies in Rajasthan between Nov 17 and Nov 20, to consolidate the Dalit votes and arrest its shrinking support base in the state. She would be addressing at least two meetings in different assembly segments, according BSP state chief, Bhagwan Singh Baba.
Mayawati has not been addressing many public rallies of late and kept a low-profile during the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2022.
In 2018, BSP won six seats and 4 per cent votes.
After Rajasthan Assembly elections in 2018, six BSP candidates, Rajendra Guda (MLA from Udaipurwati), Jogendra Singh Awana (MLA from Nadbai), Lakhan Singh Meena (MLA from Karauli), Wajib Ali (MLA from Nagar), Sandeep Yadav (MLA from Tijara) and Deepchand Kheria (MLA from Kishangarhbas), who had won, later joined Congress, supposedly at the behest of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The Congress tally had gone up to 105 from 99 then.
This happened after the 2008 Assembly also when six BSP MLAs had joined Congress.
Mayawati had criticised the move, terming it as a “betrayal of the BSP movement” by the Congress.
Of the 200 Assembly seats, 34 are reserved for Scheduled Caste, accounting for 17.83 per cent of the state’s population. Twenty five seats are marked for Scheduled Tribe.
The Dalits had voted majorly for the Congress in 2018, which had earlier sided with the BJP in 2013 Assembly elections.
(Published 17 October 2023, 07:22 IST)