Mayawati factor in Maharashtra polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign for Maharashtra elections has been kick-started by the Uma Bharati-tricolour issue, but the real issue on which the fate of the election rests, according to the party, is the direction in which Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati will turn.

Amidst reports that former state Congress unit chief chief Ranjit Deshmukh was exploring the option of joining the BSP, the BJP appears confident that the much feared alliance between the Congress and the BSP is not in the offing.

"The BSP came a very strong third or second in most seats in the Vidarbha region, and polled 6 per cent of the total vote," said a senior BJP leader. Mayawati's denial of an alliance with the Congress has left many relieved in the BJP.

"If the seat adjustment takes place, there will be a consolidation of the backward vote, which will be disastrous for the BJP," he added. The Congress which hoped for an alliance had to fight negative opinion within its own upper ranks and its main ally in the state the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Senior AICC leaders hailing from Maharashtra and NCP chief Sharad Pawar himself opined that the BSP's performance in the 2004 General Elections was due to bad selection of candidates.

"When we look at the seats where BSP has done well, we find that our candidate did not belong to the dominant caste in the area and hence some of his vote got cut into," NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.

The BJP however, is taking no chances, not only are they watching Mayawati closely, they are also trying to get dummy independent candidates in Western Maharashtra, where the party has a very weak presence.

"Till now this sugar belt was the turf of the Congress-NCP, the BJP-Shiv Sena has no presence, but a new strategy is being adopted for the area," said a senior BJP leader.

The decision on ticket distribution for the BJP will take place by September 15. "Discussions will take place in Delhi on September 12, 13 and 14, after which the candidates will be announced," said a leader

BJP general secretary in charge for Maharashtra, Pramod Mahajan, sources say has learnt a lot from the party's defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

"This time round, there will be no larger issue at the cost of local ones, every seat will have a BJP committee consisting of around 8 members who will decide the focus of the campaign, importance will be placed on the right polling agents etc," said a senior Maharashtra BJP leader.

"For the record, there is no 'war room' this time, everyone has to physically co-ordinate with Mahajan directly," said the leader.