Bengaluru: The Bahujan Samaj Party will not have an alliance with any political party in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha polls to be held in Karnataka in two-phases on April 18 and 23.
National parties had taken dalits for a ride all these years and the time has come for the party to show its strength, said the lone BSP MLA from Kollegal N Mahesh who spoke to Deccan Chronicle on the preparedness of his party for the LS polls.
Will BSP have a truck with any party in the coming LS polls?
No. We are going to field our party candidates in all 28 parliamentary constituencies in Karnataka. This time, we will ensure that the votes of the Scheduled Tribes are not transferred to any political party other than the BSP. The process of finalising the list of candidates for all the 28 LS constituencies is underway and we are announcing it on March 16 which happens to be the birth anniversary of the founder of BSP, Mr Kanshi Ram.
The Congress claims that the dalits are traditional voters of that party. Your comments.
It may be in the past. But not now. What have they done for the upliftment of the oppressed classes in the last 70 years? All these years they treated us as purchasable commodities. Now there is lot of awakening among the dalits and they will definitely vote for the BSP which is likely to play a vital role in the formation of the next government at the Centre. After BJP and Congress, the BSP is the third largest political party spread across the country. Our party had polled 4.6 per cent of the total votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and our aim is to raise the vote share to 6 per cent. A minimum 11 seats are required for this. However, the BSP is going to win at least 30-35 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. Besides, there is a scope to win a sizeable number of seats in Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan. If the Congress believes in the progress of dalits, let them not field candidates in reserved constituencies.
According to you, which are the constituencies favourable for the BSP in Karnataka?
I feel the BSP has goodprospects in Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Chikkaballapur, Bidar, Kalaburgi, Chikkodi and Bagalkot. Apart from this, the BSP is going to secure more votes in Mandya, Hassan, Chitradurga, Kolar and Bengaluru Rural.
Are you planning to contest from Chamarajangar?
No. Since I have been elected to the Assembly, I am not contesting. But, my work during four months as primary and secondary education minister will be an added advantage for the party. Mr C.S. Dwaraknath is our candidate in Chikkaballapur LS constituency.
