BSP to stick with ‘Brahmin’ experiment in state

BSP to stick with ‘Brahmin’ experiment in state

Pitching for a political opening in the state, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is planning to replicate its ‘social engineering’ experiments in the coming Lok Sabha polls by nominating more Brahmins and north Indians. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections had had nominated Brahmins from Pune, Thane, Mumbai South Central, Nashik, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg and Parbhani. The party, which secured 4.8% votes, had also put up north Indians for four of the six segments in Mumbai. The party had managed to secure over one lakh votes in three constituencies (Gadchiroli, Nagpur and Hingoli) while notching up significant gains in Pune, Ramtek, Yavatmal- Washim, Parbhani, Buldhana and Nanded. BSP Maharashtra chief Vilas Garud told DNA that they were planning to put up Brahmin and north Indian candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. “We will give representation to all communities according to their share in the population. If we include Brahmins apart from our core constituency of Dalits, OBCs will be automatically attracted to us (because of the presence of Brahmins),” said Garud and added that they would also put up candidates from the dominant Maratha community. “The Dalits in Maharashtra are getting attracted to the BSP. The strategy to give more seats to Bramhins has also led to a rise in our vote share,” said Garud, adding that this helped attract votes of Brahmins, who felt left out of the mainstream political system. Garud said they had built up the party organisation up to the booth level and added that in the recent Nanded civic polls, the party had notched up around 9,500 votes, which was more than those polled by the Republican Party of India (RPI) factions.