Lucknow, Oct. 9 -- The stage is set for the Bahujan Samaj Party's show of strength on the occasion of party founder Kanshi Ram's 19th death anniversary in Lucknow on Thursday. A day before the event, the iconic Kanshi Ram memorial and city roads were draped in blue on Wednesday with BSP banners, hoardings and posters holding sway as party workers from across Uttar Pradesh began arriving in the state capital to pay tribute to the party founder. BSP chief Mayawati's nephew Akash Anand, the party's newly appointed national convenor, will share the main stage with her for the first time at the public meeting. She is likely to reintroduce him to the party cadre and make announcements regarding his role in Uttar Pradesh. Akash is seen as the heir apparent and Mayawati is projecting him as the party's youth face. In 2019, Akash Anand had addressed a joint rally with other leaders of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Agra after the Election Commission banned Mayawati from campaigning for 48 hours. Mayawati has planned the programme as she fine-tunes plans for her party to regain lost ground in the run-up to the 2027 assembly elections after successive poll defeats and a decline in vote share. "Behenji (Mayawati) will give a message to the party cadre from the Kanshi Ram memorial to prepare for the 2027 assembly election and motivate the workers who are downcast due to the party's defeat in assembly and Lok Sabha elections," a BSP leader said. Besides a fall in vote share, desertion by senior party leaders, no representation for the party in Parliament, only one member in the UP legislative assembly and zero representation in the legislative council are among the troubles for the party led by Mayawati, a four-time former Uttar Pradesh chief minister. After defeats in 2012, 2017 and 2022 assembly polls and the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati is in search of a winning formula. With successful organisation of the rally, she plans to give the message that despite being out of power since 2012, the BSP maintains its hold over its support base, the Dalits. At recent review meetings, Mayawati had announced that BSP will go solo in elections, leading to debate in party circles whether the strategy will work when alliances are in vogue. Political observer Professor Vivek Kumar said, "The earlier alliance experiments of the BSP clearly show that it has been a loser in elections. The BSP was able to transfer its votes to its ally but failed to get the partner's votes in return." Tight security and extensive traffic management measures are in place as the event is expected to draw a large gathering of party workers and well-wishers. Lucknow police commissioner Amrendra K Sengar said, "To ensure the programme proceeds peacefully and traffic flows smoothly, 2,114 personnel, including officers and staff, supported by four PAC companies and one RARF company, have been deployed in sensitive zones."...