UP goes Bihar ways

People in Uttar Pradesh never missed a point during the campaign trail, that the state has no leaders like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Though lacking in leadership, UP still went on the lines of Bihar, which had trouched caste politics about seven years ago. There is a change in UP now but it will take time to know if the change puts the state on the path of development oriented politics or not.

UP has clearly become a turf of regional parties. This is bad news for national political parties. The state appears on the course to unveil a revolving door politics on the lines of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is in the winter of his health. Therefore, Akhilesh Yadav could become the chief minister at the earliest. In such a scenario, Akhilesh will have an opportunity to do a Nitish in Bihar. Even people in West Bengal rue the fact that though they elected Mamata Banerjee to get rid of the Left rule, they still do not have leadership to take pride in.

The Congress needs to get rid of the coterie of sycophants surrounding party scion Rahul Gandhi if it at all wants redemption at the earliest. Politics has no place for an angry young man. Though this was known to all on the street, the coterie of sycophants kept egging on the Congress scion to indulge in theatrics. The party needs to know sooner than latter that the people are not that fool, that they could be lured by acts of theatrics. 

The BSP chief Mayawati is not wrong in suggesting that the Congress gave the plot to the SP to win the elections by propping up the issue of reservation for Muslims. The issue hogged the limelight throughout the campaigning. However, the SP outsmarted the Congress in appealing to be more sincere to the cause of the Muslims.

Mayawati's image of an arrogant and megalomaniac clearly paved the way for the SP to ride on a massive anti-incumbency wave. The UP mandate is more against Mayawati than for Mulayam. Poeple appear to have no better choice but to vote in the SP into power. However, democracy still has space for leaders like Mayawati, Jayalalitha and Mamata, who centralise power and fuel perception of them being dictatorial. Though people always have the last laugh, they still vote in such leaders and therefore it may not be an end of the road for Mayawati too.

The BJP appears to be a ship adrift in the high sea. A host of top leadership were busy in ensuring that the party candidates were defeated. BJP's chief Nitin Gadkari's gamble of hoisting Uma Bharati upset them, while his ploy to piggyback ride on BSP discards (Babu Singh Kushwaha and Badshah Singh) clearly went against the sentiment of the people in the state.

However, the Congress and BJP have one glimmer of hope, that the Parliamentary and state polls may be delinked. People appear to have voted in the SP, as no other party was seen defeating Mayawati. But people will have to choose in between the Congress and BJP in 2014. Thus, the state of politics in UP is clearly in flux and the national political parties would better be advised to effect course correction to stay relevant in the state which elect 80 Lok Sabha members.