The elephant in the room: Will solo 2024 contest help or hurt BSP?

Out of power in UP since 2012, the BSP has been on a downslide, unable to leverage its purported Dalit vote bank to its advantage as in the past

The third angle of the triangle determining the cycle of Uttar Pradesh (UP) politics, namely the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), remains inscrutable.

Its leader, Mayawati, rarely plays by the rules of conventional politics. She avoids striking alliances with other parties, making exceptions, as in the 2019 Lok Sabha (LS) polls when she teamed up with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). She rarely contests by-polls when other parties view the exercise as a trial of strength, never addresses public meetings or workers’ conventions when she is out of power, and seldom reveals her plans to the