All hands on deck in Mayawati’s poll plan

On Sunday, Mayawati started her poll campaign by holding her first election rally in Durg, Raipur (Chhattisgarh). In her programme schedule, Madhya Pradesh is slated for November 17 and 24, and the proposed dates for Rajasthan are November 26 and December 4.

“She will be addressing five public meetings in each state,” said a party leader. Her trusted lieutenant Satish Chandra Mishra, whose duties have not been defined, is expected to accompany her in most of these meetings.

The party had deployed state in-charges in Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh (the states which are going to the polls, along with Mizoram) immediately after winning a majority in the UP state Assembly last year, party insiders said. They are more or less camping in these states since then.

Party sources confirmed that Mayawati herself is spending her weekends in Delhi for the last year. Working on the formula of social engineering, the BSP chief has given specific caste-wise duties to senior party leaders like Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who is working to woo Muslim voters and is sorting out election-related preparation in each state. Brajesh Pathak is working to bring in Brahmin voters for the party while Cabinet minister Anant Kumar Mishra who was earlier roped in for Rajasthan, has now been deployed in Delhi. Paras Nath Maurya, chairman Pichhara Varg Ayog, and Cabinet minister and the party’s state president Swami Prasad Maurya are regularly touring states to woo the backward communities.