Click to play videoLucknow: Who will get the chief ministers seat in Uttar Pradesh - this is the question being asked not only in the corridors of power in Lucknow but also on the streets.
As the race for the magic 202-figure mark reaches its final lap, it is the smaller parties, which could hold the key to power in Lucknow.
Meet Sonelal Patel, President of the Kurmi dominated Apna Dal - a party which wasn’t under the political limelight till its alliance with the BJP and now Apna Dal could well be a key player in the rise of the BJP.
Patel says, “Ever since we were formed, our support base has increased.”
The post Mandal era has dramatically changed UP's political landscape.
Forty-one parties fought the 1989 Assembly elections, in 1993 the number of parties had risen to 74 and 2002 saw 91 parties of these 84 were small parties.
One such party is the Rashtrawadi Communist party. It has 22 members and Shaista Amber is its president. In the 2002 elections one of the five candidates the party fielded actually won Mulayam Singh Yadav even invited her to help him form the government.
Amber says, “We are important not just in Assembly but also in local elections.''
These parties may have won just 29 seats in the last elections but they are important for another reason - they eat into the vote shares of bigger parties.
UP Election Watch Convenor IC Diwedi says, “Even if they get one per cent of the votes in times when winning margins are not so big they can make a difference.''
The smaller parties, which represent a particular caste or community are shaping the course of the state's politics.
In the era of coalition politics where mathematics matter more than political ideologies its these smaller players who will be the king makers.
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