Mayawati attacks Congress, here is why?

BSP Supremo Mayawati attacked the Congress today blaming the party for the sad state of migrant labour in the Country. She said the congress had done little after Independence to provide livelihood in villages and towns which is now forcing people to migrate out of their towns and villages.

This is the second attack on the Congress in as many days.Yesterday she attacked the Rajasthan government for demanding a payment of over Rs 36 lakhs for transporting students of Uttar Pradesh from Kota.

It is not the first time that Mayawati has attacked the Congress but what provoked the latest comments?

2019 Election, Congress can hurt BSP: Let us go back to the 2019 elections for a moment. BSP won 10 Seats and BJP won 62.,BSP could have ended with 15 seats if the congress had not played spoilsport. In other words, in the next Assembly election, whether BSP can beat BJP or not, it is certain to lose votes and seats to Congress. That is a big fear for Maya. Now, let us look at latest data from Google Trends, BSP vs Congress in Uttar Pradesh

2017: Congress+6

2018: Congress+10

2019: Congress +13

2020: Congress+14

Let us look at Mayawati vs Priyanka Gandhi

2017: Mayawati+8

2018: Mayawati+12

2019: Mayawati+19

2020: Mayawati+6

So two major trends, one Congress is increasing its lead over BSP but it is unable to translate this votes owing to lack of leadership and presence on the ground. Now, on the leadership front too, the gap between Mayawati and Priyanka Gandhi has come down this year probably due to Priyanka making a big issue out of the migrants problems.

Not just this, Mayawati’s electoral performance in the last 4 elections in UP has been deteriorating

2012: 25.9%, 2014: 19.8% 2017: 22.4%, 2019: 19.4%,

That is a loss of 6% share in a span of 7 years. Bulk of her vote share loss is happening to the BJP as BJP gains a large number of dalit voters from her. On the other hand, both SP and Congress compete with her on Muslim Votes. However, Congress is the only party that competes with her on both Dalit and Muslim votes.

So while the Congress is in no position to win many seats in UP, it is most likely to damage the BSP more than any other party in Uttar Pradesh. A seasoned politician like Mayawati clearly understands that.