Not in fray but BSP to support Independents

BSP chief Mayawati has instructed three party leaders — Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Ram Achal Rajbhar and Swami Prasad Maurya — to choose the Independent candidates but has asked them neither to endorse these candidates publicly nor share stage with them.

“No party leader will tell these Independent candidates about BSP supporting them. They will learn through our cadres telling supporters to vote for them and when they (the Independents) get the votes in their favour,” Rajbhar told The Indian Express.

A total of 43 Independent candidates are fighting on 11 Assembly constituencies, with Balha in Bahraich having only one Independent candidate and Lucknow East having the maximum seven.  Eight Independents are in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat, Mainpuri.

The source added the leaders are likely to finalise the names of the Independent candidates to whom the party will extend “secret, outside support”,
Significantly, the BSP has to exercise caution as several Independents enter the electoral fray only to help a mainstream party’s candidate by cutting rival votes, a BSP leader explained.

Supporting Independents will also help the party test its hold on its core vote base of Dalits and keep them away from BJP. Moreover, the leader said, regardless of the outcome of the bypolls, the party cadres’ morale will not take a hit as there are no official candidates fighting for the party.