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Ahead of UP polls, Mayawati launches organisational reset as BSP seeks political relevance
According to senior party functionaries, Mayawati has directed BSP coordinators to identify influential local leaders capable of strengthening the party’s presence at the grassroots level while simultaneously reaching out to former legislators and senior leaders who left the organisation over the past decade.
With the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections approaching, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has initiated an organisational and social outreach exercise aimed at reviving the party’s electoral prospects after successive setbacks in recent elections.
According to senior party functionaries, Mayawati has directed BSP coordinators to identify influential local leaders capable of strengthening the party’s presence at the grassroots level while simultaneously reaching out to former legislators and senior leaders who left the organisation over the past decade.
The strategy comes at a time when Uttar Pradesh’s political landscape is increasingly shaped by competing social coalitions. While the BJP continues to focus on outreach among non-Yadav OBCs, non-Jatav Dalits and upper-caste voters, the Samajwadi Party has sought to consolidate backward classes, Dalits and minorities under party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) framework.
Senior BSP leaders have been assigned community-specific organisational responsibilities as part of the exercise. Party national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra has been tasked with expanding outreach among Brahmins, while the lone BSP MLA, Uma Shankar Singh, has been asked to strengthen engagement with Rajputs. State president Vishwanath Pal has been entrusted with strengthening ties among non-dominant OBC and minority communities.
District units have also been instructed to accelerate the formation of community outreach committees across the state.
The party has already signalled a more accommodative organisational approach by bringing back several former leaders. Among them are Jai Prakash Singh and former MLA Wahab Chaudhary, both of whom had earlier been expelled from the party. Their return is being viewed within the BSP as part of a broader effort to strengthen regional networks and reconnect with influential local leaders.
Political observers see the initiative as an attempt to revive elements of the broad social coalition that helped the BSP secure a majority government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007. Unlike previous election cycles, the party appears focused not only on consolidating its traditional Dalit support base but also on expanding its appeal among upper-caste, OBC and minority voters.
The exercise is also being watched closely by rival parties. Analysts believe that any improvement in the BSP’s organisational strength could influence electoral dynamics in several constituencies, particularly those where margins of victory have been narrow. A stronger BSP presence could potentially affect vote shares across social groups that have, in recent years, gravitated towards either the BJP or the SP.
Several prominent BSP leaders who exited the party before the 2022 assembly elections subsequently found political success elsewhere. Among them were Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbhar, who later won Assembly elections on Samajwadi Party tickets. Other former BSP figures, including Guddu Jamali and Imran Masood, also moved to different political platforms amid organisational and electoral realignments.
Whether the BSP’s renewed outreach translates into a significant electoral revival remains uncertain. However, with political mobilisation for the 2027 contest gradually gathering momentum, Mayawati appears determined to reposition the BSP as a serious contender by rebuilding its organisational structure, expanding its social outreach and reconnecting with leaders who once formed the backbone of the party’s network across Uttar Pradesh.
