The Samajwadi Party and Congress are labeling the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ‘B’ team of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh even though the party has fielded candidates from many of the Lok Sabha constituencies who could increase the tension of the BJP.

The irony is that the Opposition INDIA bloc parties that associate Mayawati’s party with the BJP have themselves been stingy in fielding their candidates from Muslim-dominated seats in the Lok Sabha elections as part of a strategy.

Political experts keeping a close watch on the BSP politics are of the view that the BSP has distributed tickets strategically in view of the threat looming over its base vote.

Of the 55 tickets distributed so far by party supremo Mayawati, 14 (25.45 per cent of its tickets) are given to candidates belonging to the Muslim community which constitutes about 20 per cent of the state’s population whereas the BSP has given.

On the other hand, the INDIA front has given tickets to only seven Muslim candidates out of 72 seats announced so far which doesn’t come to even 10 per cent.

The BSP has also allotted tickets to 11 Brahmins. Brahmins are known as the BJP’s core voter base.

The INDIA seems to be looking to increase its seats tally banking on Muslim votes. Against this backdrop, the alliance calling the BSP ‘B’ team of the BJP without taking into account their own track record (offering far too small a share of tickets to Muslims) seems a political strategy.

By fielding candidates strategically against many famous faces of the saffron party, Mayawati tried to absolve herself of the allegation. The challenge of BSP and BJP has increased to about 10 seats.

The BJP, which had lost the Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat in the last elections, has fielded from here Kripa Shankar Singh, a minister in the government who is originally from Jaunpur. He is pitted against BSP’s Shrikala Singh, the wife of a strongman, Dhananjay Singh of the Thakur community, who is currently in jail. She is the president of the Jaunpur District Panchayat.

The Samajwadi Party has given a ticket to Babu Singh Kushwaha from here. Babu Singh was once the eyes and ears of Mayawati.

In Meerut, the BJP fielded Arun Govil, who played the role of Ram in the TV serial Ramayana, as its candidate canceling the ticket of its sitting MP. The party has been considering the Tyagi community as its support base. Many Tyagi leaders have been awarded accorded positions and prestige by the party.

By fielding Devvrat Tyagi from Meerut, Mayawati has increased the tension of the saffron party as it would break into its core vote bank.

In Basti, the BJP has given a ticket to its sitting MP Harish Dwivedi while the BSP has given a boost to the saffron party by giving a ticket to Dayashankar Mishra from the Brahmin community.

Here, the SP has once again fielded former minister Ram Prasad Chaudhary who used to be a minister in the BSP government and was counted among Mayawati’s trusted men.

Dharmendra Yadav, cousin of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, is in the fray from Azamgarh. The BJP has fielded its sitting MP Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua from here. There is a significant number of people belonging to the Rajbhar community here. To seek support from them, the BJP has formed an alliance with Omprakash Rajbhar’s party SBSP. To counter it, the BSP fielded its former state president Bhim Rajbhar from Azamgarh.

Similarly, there are several seats where the BSP has strong and formidable contenders to shed the tag of a B team of the BJP.