Lucknow: A well-attended dinner hosted by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday night at a five-star hotel in Lucknow have brightened the Rajya Sabha hopes of his new tag team partner - Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati.
Although she herself was not present, the presence of independent MLA from Kundla, Raghuraj Pratap Singh, or Raja Bhaiyya as he is more popularly known, at the dinner would have put a smile on her face.
With just two days left before Uttar Pradesh MLAs vote to send 10 candidates to the Upper House, the BSP faces a close contest and Singh’s vote could swing the battle its way. The Kundla MLA spent most of the evening talking to Jaya Bachchan, the SP candidate for the RS polls.
Mayawati’s party has 19 MLAs and to send a candidate to the Rajya Sabha, a party needs 37 MLA votes. She is banking on support from the SP, which has 47 MLAs, so it will have 10 to spare. Ajit Singh's party has offered to back her with its one vote to make up for the loss of Naresh Agrawal’s son Nitin Agrawal.
She has also been promised by the Congress that its seven MLAs would vote for the BSP candidate, taking the tally to 36. So, Singh’s vote could seal the deal for her, if there is no cross voting.
SP MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said there was no chance of any cross voting. “This is a Rajya Sabha election, you cannot hide and vote. So cross voting should not be expected. Those who are with us are with us and we are confident of our people. Shivpal Yadav Ji and Raja Bhaiyya both of them are with us,” he said.
Senior SP leader and Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Yadav was also present at the dinner. It was their first joint public appearance in over a year. Shivpal, who had left for Saifai early on Wednesday morning and skipped a key strategy meeting called by Akhilesh, drove back to Lucknow for the dinner.
They sat next to each other most of the time and Shivpal said he was confident that both SP and BSP’s candidates - Jaya Bachchan and Bhim Rao Ambedkar – would win the Rajya Sabha elections.
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, however, could not attend the dinner due to health issues, but is expected to attend another dinner that will be thrown by Samajwadi Party MLCs at the same venue on Thursday.
Samajwadi Party MLA Nitin Agrawal also did not attend the dinner. He had also skipped the meeting called by Akhilesh earlier in the day, and instead attended a strategy meeting convened by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
Nitin, an MLA from Hardoi constituency, is the son of former SP leader Naresh Agrawal, who joined the BJP after being denied a ticket to the Upper House by Akhilesh Yadav. At the time of his joining, Naresh Agrawal had said that his son would vote for the BJP candidate in the RS polls.
The elections will be held on Friday. With 311 MLAs in the UP Assembly, the BJP is assured of eight out of 10 seats but it has fielded a ninth candidate too. The BJP will have at least 28 surplus votes after it secures the eight seats and it is hoping to scramble more to make an upset.
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