'SP feud working in BJP's favour; will end its vanvas in UP'

The factional feud in Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh is turning out to be "very much favourable" for the BJP and will help in ending its 14-year-old political "vanvas" in the poll-bound state, party national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said today.
He said besides SP, the Mayawati-led BSP and Congress under its vice-president Rahul Gandhi are not in reckoning in the power race.
"Whatever is unfolding in UP, it's turning out to be very much favourable for our party. Samajwadi Party, which was in a position to give a little bit of fight in the elections, is nowhere in the frey now. People were having some positive opinion about Akhilesh's so called good governance, but all that has blown into air," he told a press conference.

The Rajya Sabha MP said the turf war between the two factions--led by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav--will end the "vanvaas" (exile) of the BJP of last 14 years.
Rajnath Singh was the last BJP chief minister in Uttar Pradesh in 2002.
Taking a dig at current bickering in the first family of UP politics, Sahasrabuddhe said, "Both tyres of SP's cycle (its poll symbol, which is now disputed) are already punctured. (Moreover) recent war within that party has dismantled both its wheels as a result of which the voters are very much aware that SP is not even in the race."

Assembly elections will be held in Uttar Pradesh in seven phases between February 11 and March 8.

Sahasrabuddhe said demonetisation has "devastated" BSP.
"As far as BSP is concerned, demonetisation drive has devastated it and is out of the fight. Pre-poll surveys have also proved this. There is no need to say anything about the Congress as no one knows where Rahul Gandhi is at this juncture and where his party will be in future."
When asked if the BJP would strike an alliance with Shiv Sena for upcoming BMC elections in Mumbai, he said the state leadership will decide about it.

"I don't want to comment on this as state leadership will take a call on it. But one thing is for sure that people of Maharashtra have given their unprecedented support to BJP and we have further consolidated our number one position.
"This is going to be repeated in the Mumbai civic election and we are, here too, going to be number one," he said in an apparent reference to recently-held local bodies polls wherein the BJP has emerged as the top-grosser pushing behind Sena, NCP and Congress.
He said Sena's siding with the BJP's opponents for next month's Goa elections is no way going to impact party's prospectus of achieving power.

The Sena, Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), the latter floated by RSS rebel Subash Velingkar, today formalised a "grand alliance" against the ruling BJP in Goa.
"You see, Shiv Sean has history of opposing us in Goa while being parter in the Maharashtra. Despite this, we have come into the power twice. This time too, we are going to repeat our past performance," he said.