Meena, BSP hoping to be king-makers

Political watchers say Meena and BSP could be very much a force to reckon with post-elections

"We will decide who comes to power in Rajasthan," said Kirori Lal Meena of National People's Party, floated by former Lok Sabha speaker PA Sangma.

If Meena is stomping across eastern Rajasthan, parts of which have huge concentration of his influential caste, BSP supremo Mayawati, who was able to draw good crowd of supporters in regions bordering UP and Haryana, is hoping to improve on the tally of six seats her party won in 2008 polls.

Rajasthan, which goes to polls tomorrow, may appear a two-horse race like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh but the anti-incumbency factor combined with infighting in BJP has risen the hopes of fringe players like BSP.

Political watchers say Meena and BSP may not be hogging limelight like Aam Admi Party in Delhi but they could be very much a force to reckon with post-elections as they were the last time before Congress managed to lure all six BSP legislatures into its fold, which helped it get a simple majority in the 200-seat assembly.

"I did not have much time to prepare last time. We have been working on the ground for years now and results will surprise you," Meena, Lok Sabha MP from Dausa, said.

He is himself fighting from two constituencies while his MLA wife Golma Devi, an unlettered woman who was elected an MLA in 2008 and became a minister in Ashok Gehlot government, is contesting from two places as well.

Independents and others had won 26 seats last time with Congress and BJP getting 96 and 78 seats respectively.

The former RSS worker had quit BJP on election eve in 2008 after the then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje refused to give tickets to his nominees and had his revenge after his tactical tie-up with Congress helped defeat the ruling party.

A strongman who sees himself as the sole guardian of Meenas, his bonhomie with Congress did not last long and he fell out with Gehlot soon after the new government took over.

He has been cultivating a vote bank of tribal and other marginalised groups since then in the hope to become the deciding factor in state politics.

His close aides say he is eyeing at least a dozen seats which will be crucial in case none of the two big parties get a majority.