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BSP likely to launch Behenji app on Maya birthday for youth-connect
The BSP annually celebrates the day as ‘Jan Kalyankari Diwas’ with the main function in Lucknow and cake-cutting ceremonies across the state.
Looking at ways to connect with youngsters and revive itself ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) may launch the ‘Behenji app’ on party chief and four-time former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s 67th birthday on January 15.
The BSP annually celebrates the day as ‘Jan Kalyankari Diwas’ with the main function in Lucknow and cake-cutting ceremonies across the state. But, with just a few months to go for the April-May Lok Sabha polls, the BSP leadership will get cadres to talk about the ‘Jan Kalyankari (pro-people)’ policies that were implemented when the party was in power in Uttar Pradesh, party leaders said.
Perhaps taking inspiration from the BJP that is wooing first-time voters and is set to hold ‘nav matdata sammelans’ (meetings featuring first-time voters), Mayawati too had directed party coordinators to reach out to youngsters and ensure their proper representation in party committees.
Modelled on the popular NaMo app of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Behenji app is said to be the brainchild of Mayawati’s nephew and successor Akash Anand.
“Since being named successor Akash Anand is now working quite passionately and firmly in the party,” a senior leader said.
Sources in the BSP revealed that Akash could get Mayawati to launch the ‘Behenji app’ though there wasn’t any official confirmation of the same.
“I am not aware of app plan,” said Uttar Pradesh BSP chief Vishwanath Pal, while admitting that meetings and cake cutting-functions would be held across the state on Mayawati’s birthday on January 15, a week before the consecration ceremony at Ram temple in Ayodhya. Mayawati is expected to release the 18th edition of her work - ‘A Travelogue of My Struggle Ridden Life and BSP Movement’ and the party’s missionary calendar on her birthday.
The party will also hold a show of strength in all districts on the occasion, people familiar with the matter said, indicating that the exercise is aimed at assessing the popularity of the contenders for the Lok Sabha seats.
Asked if Mayawati had been extended an invite for the Ram temple inauguration, the state BSP chief, who also hails from Ayodhya, said, “I wouldn’t know that as it’s a matter concerning my top leader.”
On being asked if he would visit Ayodhya for the inauguration, he said, “I was born in Ayodhya and remember visiting Ram Lalla temple several times with my mother. Ayodhya is home and I won’t need an invite to visit my home.”
Asked about party’s plans for 2024 Lok Sabha polls this time, Pal said the BSP was “fully geared up” for the polls.
In 2019, the BSP contested the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won 10 Lok Sabha seats. Once the pact came unstuck, the BSP was reduced to its worst tally in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls
Pal wouldn’t reveal if the BSP would remain nonaligned for the Lok Sabha polls or join either of the two alliances of the ruling party and the opposition.
“For us, Behenji’s word is final. Since she had last said that BSP would contest alone, we are fully prepared for the same,” the Uttar Pradesh BSP leader said.
