The BJP central leadership’s plans to face the next general elections in league with the BSP in UP, appear to have gone awry at the very outset. For bye-elections to Haidergarh and Gauriganj Assembly seats here, scheduled for February 26, both parties have fielded their candidates and neither of them is in any mood to withdraw.Mayawati, on her part, has already made it clear that arrangement with the BJP was only for Lok Sabha polls and not for the Assembly.‘‘BSP should have withdrawn it’s candidates. But if it hasn’t done so, there will now be a friendly contest,’’ state BJP chief Vinay Katiyar today said.Katiyar was in Haidergarh today, to attend the nomination of the BJP’s Sundar Lal Dixit. In Gauriganj, party candidate Tejbhan has already filed his nomination papers.However, political observers feel that contesting the Gauriganj seat had become a necessity for Mayawati, following her tiff with Priyanka Vadra over the construction of a house for a Dalit in Punnupur village there. Mayawati had even held a rally to counter Priyanka’s move.Meanwhile, the general mood of the cadres is enough indication of the rift between the two parties. Several BJP workers have complained to party leaders about being discriminated by state officials as against their BSP counterparts. Some similar complaints recently forced Katiyar to threaten that any misbehaviour against his party workers would not be tolerated.
