Kalyan Singh flexes his muscles against BJP

There were times when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh was known for former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh but in 1999 it witnessed a crisis where both the factions became arch-rivals following a few incidents which forced Kalyan to leave the saffron party.

Lucknow: There were times when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh was known for former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh but in 1999 it witnessed a crisis where both the factions became arch-rivals following a few incidents which forced Kalyan to leave the saffron party.

This was evident when in 2012, Kalyan Singh's Jan Kranti Party contested UP Assembly polls giving clear indications to BJP of being its strong opponent. The BJP, in 2012 polls, reached its lowest level since 1991 and secured only 47 seats while Kalyan Singh's party was identified as a true vote-cut party.

After its heavy downfall, both BJP and Kalyan realised each other's strength and in 2013, Kalyan once again announced its return to the BJP under Narendra Modi's leadership after the then UP BJP in-charge Amit Shah intervened in the matter. The two factions again went into a win-win situation in the 2014 elections and BJP showed its charisma in the political history of Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP and its ally Apna Dal won 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP in the 2014 elections. Out of which BJP alone won 71 seats. Following this, the BJP government was formed at the Centre in 2014. In the 2017 elections also, BJP was again blessed with power.

Meanwhile, Political analyst Vijay Shankar Pankaj said that the Ram Mandir movement had made Kalyan Singh mighty following which he started considering other leaders before him unworthy. "Kalyan Singh's miscommunication with many of his party leaders started widening this gap when Mayawati was unwilling to transfer the throne of UP to the BJP which was considered as a government of manipulation," said Vijay Shankar Pankaj.

Pankaj said that Kalyan had an illusion that the BJP belonged to him. The tension between central leaders and Kalyan Singh forced him to leave the BJP. Due to this development, both the BJP and Kalyan suffered losses. With increasing rift, Kalyan Singh became vocal and even termed the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee as only the mask of the BJP to hide its flaws, claimed Pankaj.

After being shown the way out of the BJP, Kalyan Singh formed the Jankranti Party which contested the 2002 UP Assembly elections. BJP suffered heavy losses in this election after it secured 88 seats. Meanwhile, SP won 143, BSP 98, Congress 25, RLD 14 seats and Kalyan's party got only four seats in 2002 UP polls.

Kalyan Singh again joined BJP but with his return, discord within the party also increased. Kalyan Singh was considering himself to be an old and senior member of the party and was trying to run the BJP on his terms but many strong leaders had tagged him as an 'outsider'.

Read:Former UP CM Kalyan Singh passes away

In 2007, the BJP did not perform well in the Assembly election and secured only 51 seats. However, BSP was successful in crossing the figure of the majority on its own with its social engineering formula and Mayawati became the Chief Minister of UP. With this, BJP and Kalyan Singh again separated their ways and during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Kalyan Singh joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In this election, Kalyan Singh contested as an independent candidate from Etah but he was seen campaigning for SP with Mulayam Singh. The friendship with Kalyan Singh overshadowed the SP and it got only 24 seats in the election which resulted in Mulayam Singh Yadav distancing himself from Kalyan. On the contrary, BJP also suffered heavy losses in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2012 Assembly elections, BJP suffered its biggest loss when Kalyan Singh opened a strong front against BJP by fielding over 200 candidates of the Jan Kranti Party. However, his party did not get any success but he took BJP below 50 seats and BJP reached 47 seats, the lowest level since 1991.

This time, the people of the state gave Samajwadi Party a chance to come into power and with a thumping majority, Akhilesh Yadav became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh which in turn became the biggest blow to the BJP after Kalyan Singh's separation. Senior journalist and political analyst PN Dwivedi believe that in the 2012 Assembly elections, both Kalyan Singh and the Bharatiya Janata Party lost their illusions.

"Kalyan Singh joined the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It may have been a mere coincidence, but the BJP has been consistently leading since then. Kalyan was seen rising above caste in the political world. But, there is also a fact that the Lodh community, from which Kalyan comes, in UP is enough in number and the people of Lodh community considered him as their leader," Dwivedi said.

Read: Yogi Adityanath meets Kalyan Singh, enquires about his health