With Beni's entry, MSY looks to expand voter base

Lucknow: By embracing his old friend Beni Prasad Verma, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has indicated that before the 2017 state polls, the party was returning to its roots by consolidating its base among backwards and Muslims.
Flanked by Beni on one side and senior minister Azam Khan on the other, he also indicated that the SP was looking to expand its social base beyond M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) combination.
On Friday, if Mulayam praised Beni from his heart, hugged him after burying the bitterness of the past , it was an acknowledgement to the fact the Kurmi leader holds a stature in the state politics and despite the reverses in the recent past, has the ability to hold sway over his caste. Kurmis constitute nearly 9% of UP's population and form the second biggest OBC chunk after Yadavs (13%). In eastern UP and terai regions, they play a decisive role in nearly 20 districts and 75 assembly constituencies. If Beni manages to mobilize his caste in favour of SP candidates, it could really boost the party's comeback chances. Beni had left the party in 2007 and floated his own Samakwadi Kranti Dal which lost miserably. In 2009, he shifted to Congress, won from Gonda and was made a Union minister. However, he lost from the same constituency in 2014 and had been marginalised in the party since then. Beni's son Rakesh Verma, too, has been rehabilitated as the SP has promised him a ticket in the 2017 elections despite his defeats in two previous elections in 2007 and 2012.
Both Azam and Beni have been deserters. They quit the party, vehemently criticised the SP chief, but were taken back. At the conference, when the two were sitting with Mulayam, he showered praise on both of them and the Muslims for supporting the party.
After the press conference, when Beni started to leave the party headquarters in his own car, Mulayam insisted that he should accompany him and the two left in the same vehicle.
Another aspect of Beni's comeback is that after his arrival, the number of Amar Singh-baiters will go up, making the ghar-wapsi of the Thakur leader more difficult.