LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party rode to power in Uttar Pradesh last year by fetching a major chunk of backward caste votes. The party is eyeing to repeat the same winning formula in 2014 LokSabha elections and has set the ball rolling by demanding the inclusion of 17 backward castes in the scheduled castes list. The party has also declared a public holiday on April 5 on account of GuharajNishadrajJayanti, which was a long pending demand of the community.
The conference of party workers from the backward castes held at SP headquarters in Lucknow on Saturday was also a part of the state government's strategy to consolidate its position among this vote bank.
There was no immediate provocation for SP to hold such a conference. The SP had, in fact, marked its targets for the Mission 2014 while preparing for the 2012 assembly election. In its assembly election manifesto, the SP had promised to pursue the central government to include 17 backward castes in the SC list. The commitment worked, believe senior SP leaders.
For the SP, shifting focus on the backward castes is important after its vociferous protest against the quota in promotion bill. Though the move may have helped party to attract the upper caste voters disenchanted with the BJP or the Congress, it has alienated a section of the backward class. By targeting the backward castes, the party hopes to compensate for the alienated in order to benefit from the shift from the upper caste.
It was not therefore surprising that once the SP was in the saddle in UP, the Akhilesh Yadav government got down to work immediately thereafter. Akhilesh slotted the welfare of the backward castes on top priority in his first official document released on March 28, 2012. The chief secretary Jawed Usmani has since been heading the high level committee to study and design the welfare schemes for these castes in the state.
Not only the SP, even the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress too are trying to woo backward votes, which, till recently, was seen as the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSPs) traditional vote bank. The BJP too had shown its inclination towards the backward section well in advance when more than 30% of the candidates won its organizational elections held before 2012 assembly election.
The Congress-led UPA government is also not lagging behind and has three key ministers from the backward castes -- Sriprakash Jaiswal, RPN Singh and Beni Prasad Verma.
Besides, the parties left nothing to chance during allotment of tickets for the UP assembly poll. Sample this: BJP fielded 126 backward castes, followed by SP with 125 such candidates. The BSP nominated 113 backward caste candidates while the Congress fielded 110 candidates. The allocations of these candidates exceeded far beyond the ratio of candidates from other castes and communities like 30% dalits, 20% OBCs, 20% Muslims, 15% Brahmins and 15% other castes.
Samajwadi Party aims to repeat backward caste vote formula in Lok Sabha polls
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Samajwadi Party aims to repeat backward caste vote formula in Lok Sabha polls
