Raj Kumar Anand — the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat — on Tuesday said his party is looking to increase its vote share in the general election while eyeing the role of a “kingmaker” in the Delhi Assembly poll next year.
He also stressed that the May 25 Lok Sabha poll in the Capital will mark the beginning of the return of the BSP cadre to the party after they drifted to other major outfits like AAP, Congress and the BJP in Delhi.
“We want to secure at least 12-15 seats in the Vidhan Sabha election and play the role of a kingmaker by forming a coalition government,” said Mr. Anand, who had joined the BSP recently after quitting the Delhi’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), citing the “shrinking space” for the Dalits in it.
The leader, however, did not reveal the party with which the BSP is looking to form an alliance for the Assembly poll in Delhi, where its vote share nosedived to 1% in 2019 general election, with five of its seven candidates losing deposits.
However, the leader is hopeful of making the New Delhi contest a triangular one.
“The decision to join the BSP was taken quite late, so was the decision to contest the poll,” said Mr. Anand, who is locked in a contest with BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj and AAP’s Somnath Bharti.
“You never know when the elephant finishes the race first,” he added, stressing that his politics is not only for Dalits but also for socially and economically backward sections of society.
Apart from Mr. Anand, the BSP has fielded Md. Wagar Choudhary from East Delhi, Abul Kalam Azad, a lawyer, from Chandni Chowk, Abdul Basit from South Delhi, Vishakha from West Delhi, Vijay Bauddh from North West Delhi and Ashok Kumar from North East Delhi.
It is the only national party after the BJP that has fielded candidates in all seven constituencies in Delhi.
AAP and the Congress are contesting the poll in a 4-3 seat-sharing arrangement as part of the INDIA bloc.
‘BSP non-player’
Meanwhile, residents of the New Delhi constituency ruled out the possibility of Mr. Anand making a major impact on the prospects of the BJP or AAP candidate in the Lok Sabha poll.
Minutes after a BSP rally in the constituency’s Malviya Nagar, 55-year-old tea seller Dayanand Chand said, “I did not know that Raj Kumar ji joined the BSP.”
Md. Rafique, a resident of Khirki Extension, said it is too late for the BSP now.
“The BSP started its campaign just now. In such a case, how will the voters connect with the party,” the 24-year-old gig worker added.
