SP’s woes: BJP woos Jats; Mayawati woos Muslims
A Jat—Muslim compact is supposed to be the axis of the Samajwadi Party’s social engineering efforts in western Uttar Pradesh. The SP is in alliance with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — the traditional vehicle of Jat politics, but no longer unchallenged. There is nothing inevitable about the coalition of the two communities; and there are enough tensions between them that could splinter their tenuous pact. The BJP is relentlessly wooing the Jats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is trying to woo the Muslims. The BJP and the BSP are both counting SP as the key enemy, and the BJP is even considering the RLD as a future partner in the event of a hung Assembly.
