Double whammy for Mulayam as his party draws a blank in Assembly bypolls

Snapping up nine of the 11 Assembly seats in the state where bypolls were held on November 7, the Bahujan Samaj Party today made an impressive comeback after its not-so-good performance in the last Lok Sabha polls even as its sworn rival Samajwadi Party bit the dust with a tally of zero following a double whammy from the Congress and the BSP. While the Congress wrested Firozabad Lok Sabha seat from the SP, Mayawati’s party snatched as many as five Assembly seats from it, including Bharthana which SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav himself had vacated after his election to the Lok Sabha in May this year.

The loss of Firozabad also came as a personal blow for Yadav, who had fielded his daughter-in-law Dimple for the seat that was won and vacated by his son Akhilesh barely a few months ago. To add insult to the injury, the seat was lost to Raj Babbar, who fought as Congress candidate after parting ways with Yadav but not before bitter public spats with SP general secretary Amar Singh.

Despite the fact that the Yadav clan had been camping in the constituency for days in the run-up to the bypoll, Dimple lost by more than 85,000 votes.

But the bigger worry for Mulayam comes from the Congress, which is edging his party out as the main Opposition in the state. In fact, the Congress pulled off a coup of sorts when it snatched from the BJP Lucknow West, a seat which had become synonymous with party veteran Lalji Tandon who had vacated it after his election to the Lok Sabha. Like the SP, the BJP too drew a blank in the bypolls, losing its other seat of Kolasla to its rebel Ajay Rai.

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