BSP to join other parties to oppose currency ban

LUCKNOW: In a sharp departure from the past, BSP chief Mayawati may join hands with the other parties including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, TMC and JD(U) to oppose demonetisation move of the BJP government at the centre. Mayawati is likely to send one of her emissaries as part of opposition group to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on November 17.

“We are with the opposition on the issue demonetisation,” Mayawati said during a press conference at his residence here in Lucknow. Sources said that Maya may send her Rajya Sabha MP SC Mishra with the delegation of opposition leaders to meet Mukherjee. Party sources said that a final decision was likely to be taken in a day or two.

In the past, Mayawati has been refraining from being seen together with the other opposition parties outside parliament on various issues, including the much debated land acquisition bill. In fact, when Congress president Sonia Gandhi carried out a protest march against the land bill in 2015, Maya did not even send a party representative.

Political experts said that Maya had been wary of being seen along with the opposition parties as that could indicate of a possible alliance and thereby affect her core Dalit vote bank. “She is apprehensive of political parties taking advantage of gaining her core Dalit vote bank while not transferring their votes to BSP,” said political analyst JP Shukla.

This time, however, the situation is different, Shukla pointed out. He said that the issue of demonetisation went beyond the conventional caste politics and affects individuals irrespective of their caste and religion. “Mayawati does not have anything to lose. She can instead gain by joining forces against the BJP,” he said.

Mayawati has been consistently been attacking PM Modi ever since the Centre decided to ban the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. The BSP chief, in fact, has been saying that it were the ``people in general'' who have been pushed into a grave financial crisis. Also, experts said, that Mayawati cannot remain aloof of the joint opposition forum even as she gears up for a strong electoral contest in the UP assembly elections due in few months.