With eyes on Yadav votes, Shah dines at party-worker's house
After plucking Janata Dal (United)'s Nitish Kumar out of the opposition, BJP mastermind Amit Shah now has his sight set on Samajwadi Party's Yadav vote bank. In a surprising, yet striking instance, Shah chose to have lunch at the residence of Sonu Yadav, a booth-level party worker. Also present were UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma.
Difficult times for Samajwadi Party
An ongoing feud between Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and his nephew and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, has led many to speculate on the Party's split. The chances have intensified after the abysmal performance of the SP-Congress alliance in the 2017 state elections. Moreover, Shivpal Yadav, Mulayam's brother has met Adityanath several times and openly favoured Ram Nath Kovind as a Presidential candidate.
Shah's choice of venue
While Shah had initially planned to have lunch at a Dalit's house, Sonu Yadav's house was chosen in a last minute move, after deciding that the desertions from SP made it the right moment to woo the Yadav community.
BJP's Mission Yadav
During his meetings with the party's office bearers and workers, Shah urged them to make inroads into the Yadavs vote bank which the SP currently controls. They account for about ten percent of the population in UP. Although BJP has already wooed many groups of backward classes, scheming to split SP and woo Yadavs would mark a significant victory for the saffron party.
What now: Going all the way to woo Yadavs
"We have been told to convince Yadavs in our neighbourhood that they will be better off in BJP than in Samajwadi Party which is a sinking ship," noted a BJP source and added that the Party may even choose a Yadav President soon.
