Brahmins stay away from Mayawati’s BSP,Satish Mishra no help

Satish Mishra has been holding meetings to help the party win the communitys vote

The BSPs Brahmin face,Satish Chandra Mishra,has been holding meetings to help the party win the communitys vote. But he doesnt appear to have cut much ice,at least in Allahabad and Varanasi which go to polls on February 15,in the third phase of UP elections.

Mishra addressed three meetings in Allahabad on February 3,moving on to Varanasi and Chandauli. He is scheduled to also hold rallies at Mirzapur and later Bundelkhand,entering through Chitrakoot. However,at his Allahabad meetings,the participation was low.

Brahmin organisations are reluctant to align with the party as they did in 2007 despite Mishras speeches about BSP giving the community the most number of tickets in UP assembly polls. Apart from disenchantment with BSP,Mishra too attracts few voters. What he said in meetings about the local candidate may be true. But his personality is not something we are enamoured with. He was not seen these five years and now he has come to talk about our interests, said Pandit Raja Ram Shukla,general secretary of Kanyakubj Brahmin Sabha (Prayag).

In Varanasi,where Brahmins have formed the Sarvjan Mahasabha in an attempt at political assertion,the rejection of BSPs overtures towards Brahmins is clearer. Sheetla Prasad Pandey,handling media affairs of Colonel Ranjeet Upadhdyaya,contesting on Mahasabha ticket from Varanasi Cantonment,said: There were initial feelers from BSPs office-bearers. But when they realised that Brahmins,with Bhumihars and even some Kshatriyas have come together,the invitations stopped.