<b>Letters:</b> Mayawati's chances dim

Aditi Phadnis is right in observing in her column, ?Can Mayawati storm back to power in UP?? (February 25), that a victory ? if at all ? for Mayawati?s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would be less about her views on social reform and more about the sins of omission of her rivals.

The BSP chief is adept at playing the caste card to her political advantage during elections, but it is simply because she wants to come to power in Uttar Pradesh at any cost.

Mayawati has so far been making extensive use of the caste coalition of Brahmins and Dalits to reap a rich political harvest. But despite her best efforts, she had to be content with 80 seats out of 403 in the state Assembly in 2012. Worse, her party failed to open its account in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

What does all this indicate? Voters are no longer fooled by caste-based appeals and emotive political speeches.

The Muslims seem to have been shortchanged by the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government; they are dismayed at the family feud in the party. They are likely to migrate to the BSP in the hope that Mayawati will treat them fairly, considering that her party has fielded a substantial number of Muslim candidates this time.

If Mayawati?s public statement ? that even if the BSP does not get absolute majority, she would never join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party ? is any indication, she is not confident of victory.

Ultimately, the power struggle in UP may end in a fiasco and with a hung Assembly as people are most likely to vote according to their political leanings.

Hence, the chances of Mayawati making a comeback are remote. At the most, the BSP would occupy the second spot on the electoral table.

Vinayak G Bengaluru
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