Role of about a dozen smaller parties very crucial in Uttar Pradesh for LS polls

New Delhi, Jan 4: Role of Uttar Pradesh has always been very crucial for the formation of government at the Centre. Actually the four main political parties in the state -- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress - are trying to formulate their strategy in such a way that they are able to garner maximum number of seats in the state in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. They want to do it either by their political narrative or forming alliance with other.

However, amid alliance talks that if the BSP and the SP will contest Lok Sabha elections jointly possibly taking Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on a few seats in western Uttar Pradesh, some new smaller political parties and some other old one will spoil the game plan of these bigger political parties depending upon the situation and the location where they are based in.

Some old smaller political parties with mixed bag of success and failure like Peace Party of India, All India Ulama Council, Qaumi Ekta Dal, All India MIM and RLD, many new formations are on the horizons of political landscape of Utter Pradesh like political parties launched by the split away group of Samajwadi Party led by Shipal Singh Yadav as Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia and outfit launched by Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap aka Raja Bhaiya's Jansatta Party.

Emerging youth dalit icon Chandrashekhar Azad too will have his influence in the Lok Sabha elections as he is visiting even in the remote areas of the state. There is another smaller party called Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD Party). It has a caste connotation.

Praveen Nishad is Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur on Samajwadi Party ticket. He had won the election in by-elections who talked about representation of smaller parties. Whatever the acronym say about the party, its meaning is a community of boatmen in Uttar Pradesh which are sizable in number along the rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti and Chambal.

But how these political parties will impact the Lok Sabha elections is a big question. If Apna Dal (Sonelal), Suheldev Bharat Samaj Party, NISHAD Party and Jansatta Party will harm the BJP if they will field their own candidates. Patels of Apna Dal (Sonelal), Rajbhars of SBSP, Nishad community and Rajputs voted the BJP wholeheartedly not only in 2014 Lok Sabha elections but also in 2017 Assembly elections in the state.

Peace Party, Ulama Council, Qaumi Ekta Dal and AIMIM will harm the Samajwadi Party, the Congress and the BSP as these are predominantly Muslim outfits and Muslims have been voting for these political parties depending on the winability of the candidates. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia will have its only impact on the SP. Similarly the move of Chandrashekar will have its impact on the BSP.

Suheldev Bharat Samaj Party has given the deadline to the BJP to meet its demand and if not, it is likely to align with Qaumi Ekta Dal of mafia don Mukhtar Ansari making things difficult for the BJP in Poorvanchal region of the state. Ettehad Millat Council too has sizable vote bank in the state. So these smaller political parties might not have the winability factor but they are definitely going to trouble bigger political parties in the state.