UP: BJP woos OBCs to take on Samajwadi Party; Ghosi by-poll takes centrestage

Knowing that winning Uttar Pradesh will open the road to national success, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on an induction spree to win over some of the crucial leaders of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the country’s politically most critical state.

Going by the number of inductions in the last two months, at least five OBC leaders have joined the ruling BJP after ditching the Samajwadi Party (SP), the main opposition party.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, chief of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSJ), has already joined the NDA. BJP leaders are talking to leaders of the Mahan Dal (MD) to convince them to join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ahead of the 2024 general elections.

“The OBCs are the voter base of the BJP. We are trying to ensure that the different communities of OBCs continue to vote for the BJP in 2024. The election is extremely crucial as it will not only give Prime Minister Narendra Modi a third consecutive term but the BJP will fight a united opposition all across the country,” said a senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh, who did not wish to be named.

According to the 2011 census, the total population of Uttar Pradesh was 19.98 crore. OBCs make up nearly 30 per cent of it. Of the total 62 MPs of the BJP in the Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh, 28 are OBCs.

Defections to BJP

The five leaders who have joined the BJP in the last two months are former minister Dara Singh Chauhan, former MP Rajpal Saini, former minister Sahab Singh Saini and former MLA Sushma Patel. Shalini Yadav, who stood against Modi from Varanasi in 2019, has also joined the BJP.

“The induction of these leaders indicates there is no space for the OBC community in the Samajwadi Party. People who joined the SP have also returned to the BJP because they have realized that SP leadership works only for specific communities,” said another BJP leader.

In less than a month, the BJP and Samajwadi Party will be engaged in a crucial electoral contest that will be seen as a mini curtain raiser before the Lok Sabha battle nearly nine months away.

By-elections will be held in Ghosi, an assembly constituency in Mau district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, on September 5. The seat fell vacant after Samajwadi Party leader Dara Singh Chauhan resigned from the seat and joined the BJP.

The Ghosi contest has become significant because the Lok Sabha seat is held by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The BJP that wants to win the seat to ensure that OBC votes get consolidated behind it.

Samajwadi Party unruffled

A Samajwadi Party leader told The Federal: “It is true that some leaders have joined the BJP. But it is not correct to say that SP is facing a challenge to get OBC support. Just because some leaders have left does not mean the community won’t vote for us. Most of these leaders change their political parties ahead of elections for a better political deal for themselves. Chauhan’s case is the same.”

Chauhan, a prominent leader of the OBC community, is likely to contest the Lok Sabha election again. He was a MP till 2014 when he was with the BSP. He joined the BJP in 2015 and became a minister in Uttar Pradesh after the 2017 elections.

However, just before the last assembly elections, Chauhan resigned as minister and left the BJP, alleging the party was not working for the betterment of OBCs, farmers and marginalised sections.

Added the Samajwadi Party leader: “People have realised that these leaders change political parties for their own benefit. So, I do not think people change their positions because of these leaders.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the chief strategist of the BJP, has asked senior leaders to target winning at least 75 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2024 in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP’s challenge

He has also told the BJP leaders not to become complacent and to focus on the people who have benefited from different programmes of the Modi government.

“It is because of the popularity of the Prime Minister and chief minister Yogi Adityanath that the BJP is confident of winning comfortably in Uttar Pradesh,” a BJP leader said, admitting that winning 75 Lok Sabha seats will prove to be a challenge.

In 2014, the BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats on its own, with a vote percentage of 42.63 per cent. Five years later, the BJP improved its national tally but could win only 62 seats in Uttar Pradesh but with an improved vote share of 49.56 per cent.

“The Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh hold the key to power in Delhi. We know that the opposition will try to bring us down from 62. The challenge for us is not just to retain our seats but to cross the target of 75,” added the BJP leader.

Political analysts believe the BJP has created a perception in the minds of the people that it will return to power for a third consecutive term. So, people are joining it because they do not wish to miss out on the opportunities that come with being in a ruling party.

“These moves by political leaders have nothing to do with ideology or ideological commitment. The BJP has created this perception in the minds of the people that it is coming back to power,” said AK Verma, Director, Centre for the Study of Society and Politics, Kanpur.