As they go to polls early next year,both Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are eagerly awaiting the poll pacts of UP Chief Minister Mayawati. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chiefs announcement in Chandigarh on May 29 to go it alone in Punjab polls has fuelled speculation on the partys possible poll alliance in the state,for in politics,there is never a final word. The BSP,it is learnt,has not only sent feelers to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) but also the Peoples Party of Punjab (PPP) led by former finance minister Manpreet Badal. Mayawatis statement is now being seen as an attempt to bargain hard with those the BSP intends to truck with for state polls. According to sources in the PPP,the party has been approached by the BSP,Communists and splinter Akali Dal groups. The Akalis will not forsake the BJP as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has emotional ties with the alliance partner. Also,the BSP is breaking at the grassroot level as its workers are joining the Congress. So,the only choice is to be a part of the third front,which is now represented by the PPP, they said. The compulsions for the BSP state leadership are pressing. In the last three state elections,the party has not been able to win a single Assembly seat in Punjab,which incidentally has one of the highest Schedule Caste population in the country 29 per cent. Its founder Kashiram too hailed from Punjabs Ropar district. However,Punjab BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri says the word of the party supremo is final. Our leader has categorically said that we will contest Punjab polls on our own. The political scenario has changed since the last three state elections. Now,our voteshare has gone up and we are in a position to win seats. We have also strengthened our organisational structure at the grassroots level. So,we stand to gain from a quadrangular poll fight, he said. And while the BSP terms both the main state parties Akali Dal and Congress as anti-Dalit,it sees Manpreet no different from the party he comes from. Manpreet Badal has been a part of the Akali Dal for 15 years. He is not much different from them. Our past experience has been that while those we ally with gain from our voter base,their votes do not come to us. Also,unlike the Akalis or PPP,we are not a regional party. We can win polls despite them, he added. As for the PPP,it is the agenda that is sacrosanct. We are open to alliance with other political parties but only if they agree to our issue-based politics. The third front has to be formed in Punjab by like-minded secular parties on the basis of a common agenda, former MLA and PPP leader Kushaldeep Dhillon said.
