'Confident of emerging as kingmaker': BSP hopes to win 10 of 28 seats in MP Assembly bypolls

Bhopal: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday expressed confidence that it would emerge as a “kingmaker” by winning at least 10 out of the 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, where bypolls will be held on 3 November. The Mayawati-led party currently has two MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, whose effective strength has come down to 202 after the death of three MLAs and resignations by 25 others. “We are going to win at least 10 seats out of the 28, where bypolls will be held. With these wins, we are going to emerge as kingmaker. We will certainly play a crucial role in forming the next government,” state BSP chief Ramakant Pippal told PTI. “The ruling BJP needs to win nine of these seats to enjoy majority (116) on its own in the House. But some surveys have predicted that it cannot win more than four seats,” he said. But as 28 seats are currently vacant, the BJP presently enjoys majority in the House on its own, he added. “On the other hand, the opposition Congress needs to win all 28 seats to reach the majority mark. But it is next to impossible,” the BSP leader said. He alleged that both the parties have fielded turncoats and the voters were upset with it. “The voters are looking at the BSP as an alternative. We already have two MLAs in the House. The BSP has fielded 27 candidates and we will soon nominate our last candidate for Bada Malhera seat shortly,” Pippal said. Meanwhile, according to the BSP sources, party supremo Mayawati is expected to tour the Gwalior-Chambal region, where by-elections to 16 Assembly segments will be held. Pippal, however, did not confirm anything, saying it was too early to say. Twenty-two rebel Congress MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, mostly from the Jyotiraditya Scindia camp, had resigned in March this year, reducing the Kamal Nath-led dispensation to a minority and paving the way for the BJP to form the government in the state. Scindia and these former MLAs had joined the BJP. The BJP then sent Scindia to Rajya Sabha, while many of his loyalists got important portfolios in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s cabinet. In July, three more Congress MLAs resigned and joined the saffron party, taking their number to 25, while three Assembly seats had fallen vacant due to the death of legislators. The Congress now has 88 MLAs in the House, while the ruling BJP has 107. In March, the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government had won the trust of 112 MLAs with the help of a Samajwadi Party legislator, two BSP and as many Independents supported the BJP. After the December 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the Samajwadi Party (SP), BSP and four Independents had supported the Congress to form the government.