Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has recieved a call from yet another political suitor, this time from none other than the beleaguered CM of Haryana, Om Prakash Chautala.

Chautala, who now rules Haryana in splendid isolation, after he was dumped by the BJP just before the Lok Sabha polls, is desperately looking for partners to face the Assembly elections early next year.

BSP sources do not deny Chautala has been in touch with their party leader. Says a BSP source, ‘‘Chautala’s party is in the doldrums in the state, and he needs all the help he can get. However, Mayawati is clear she will have no alliance with Chautala.’’

An INLD-BSP alliance could be beneficial to both parties — the sizeable chunk of Jats, who have been steadfastly loyal to Chautala, and the Dalits, especially the Chamars around 10 per cent, who are now moving away from the Congress, towards the BSP — can form a formidable force to challenge the Congress. Both communities weave the urban-rural combine in the state.

Chautala’s desperation is not surprising — with his former ally, the BJP’s votebank now gone, he needs the BSP to fill the vaccum. It is not the first time that the Jat-Dalit combine have voted together — in 1987 too, the late patriarch, Devi Lal, had made use of it successfully when he propped Dalit candidates for the state election.

While Devi Lal did not choose more than a couple of Dalit candidates — traditionally, the Jat and Dalit relationship is of a landlord and a peasant — Dalits did not fight shy of voting for the Jat party when it came to a Dalit candidate. So, when Devi Lal picked the unknown Maydhavi Kirti, grand-daughter of Jagjivan Ram, to contest the Jhajhar seat, she won hands down. Similarly, former IAS officer Kripa Ram Punya, who was asked by Devi Lal to quit the administration and contest, not only won the election but was also made a minister in Devi Lal’s Cabinet.

Chautala is now hoping that the Dalit surge in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh will spill over to Haryana. An alliance with the BSP will ensure a loyal votebank, and he hopes to cash in on it, at least for the polls.