But it may not be all that easy to wean away Mulayam’s supporters. Political analyst Ibne Hasan points out that Mulayam still has an edge over Mayawati in terms of the access he has to the network of madrassas and imams in villages and small towns, which wield tremendous influence on Muslim voters. But already cracks have developed in this network. But party leader Rajendra Chowdhary claims they will win at least 50 Lok Sabha seats. Senior CPI leader Ashok Mishra, however, says, “In the last assembly elections in 2007, the vote share of the BSP was 30.43 per cent while the SP polled 25.43 per cent and the Congress, 8.61 per cent. Even a marginal shift of Muslim votes in favour of the BSP will help the party.”
—with Ravish Tiwari in New Delhi