In the coming days, results of Rajya Sabha elections are likely to have far reaching consequences on the politics of Uttar Pradesh and the 2019 parliamentary polls.
The Samjawadi Party failed to ensure the victory of BSP candidate Bhimrao Ambedkar, which could have been a ‘return gift’ to BSP chief Mayawati. The deal between Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was that the former had to ensure the victory of SP candidates in Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary byelections, in which she succeeded, and in return, Akhilesh had to ensure the victory of the BSP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls by transferring the SP votes. However, BJP candidate Anil Agarwal defeated BSP candidate Ambedkar.
The informal alliance between the BSP and the SP has faltered after the defeat of the BSP candidate in the Rajya Sabha election. Now much will depend on Mayawati—whether she would go for an electoral pact with the SP in future or not.
Cross-voting by some of the BSP and SP legislators gave BJP the much-needed ‘oxygen’, after their humiliating drubbing in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.
The results have also vindicated a ‘perfect poll management’ by the BJP as it succeeded in ensuring the victory of its ninth candidate Anil Agarwal. On the basis of numbers of BJP legislators in UP Assembly, the victory of its eight contestants was a forgone conclusion. The uncertainty was on their ninth candidate, Agarwal. Here the BJP strategists scored over the BSP and the SP.
Soon after the results, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in an apparent dig at Akhilesh for failing to ensure Ambedkar's win, said, “The SP is an opportunist; it takes from others but does not give back.”
BSP general secretary Satish Mishra said, “The BJP resorted to every dubious practice to defeat the BSP candidate. It did not allow two jailed MLAs to vote while in other states a few legislators who were jailed came out and voted on the polling day.”
The Congress legislators showed utmost loyalty and all seven legislators, according to their party stance, voted in favour of the BSP candidate.
Undoubtedly, the poll results have raised the stature of Yogi, who suffered a jolt after Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls. It has also given the BJP a psychological edge over its rivals in the parliamentary polls in 2019.