News Analysis India

Tag: Bahujan Samaj Party

  • Lok Sabha Elections: If INDIA bloc comes to power, it will put Babri lock at Ram temple: Amit Shah in UP

    LAKHIMPUR: Hitting out at the INDIA opposition bloc, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said if it comes to power after the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, it will put a “Babri” lock at the Ram temple in Ayodhya. Addressing a rally in support of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, who is the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Lok Sabha poll candidate from Lakhimpur Kheri, Shah also accused the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of defaming the saffron party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by saying if he gets 400 seats in the ongoing election, reservation will be done away with.

    The senior BJP leader said though it is not going to happen, if the opposition parties come to power, they will put a “Babri naam ka tala (Babri lock)” at the Ram temple.

    He said Modi not only won the legal dispute involving the Ram Janmabhoomi, but also performed the “bhoomi puja (groundbreaking ceremony)” of the Ram temple and its “pran pratishtha” (consecration) was held in January. “After the first three phases of the Lok Sabha polls, Modiji has crossed 190 seats…. In the fourth phase, under Modiji’s leadership, we are strongly heading towards 400 seats, while the SP, BSP and Congress have been wiped out,” Shah said. AllUttar PradeshMaharashtraTamil NaduWest BengalBiharKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTelanganaKeralaMadhya PradeshRajasthanDelhiOther StatesLakhimpur Kheri will go to polls in the fourth phase of the election on May 13. The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.

  • Uttar Pradesh: After failed BSP experiment in 2019, SP pins hope on Congress tie-up to stop BJP juggernaut in UP

    The coming general election may throw some surprising results in Uttar Pradesh with the SP-BSP alliance now replaced by the SP-Congress pact under the INDIA bloc. The Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in 2019 had offered some resistance to the BJP on a handful of seats in the western and eastern parts of UP, but failed to make a big impact.

    With BSP supremo Mayawati deciding to duke it out alone this time, it will be up to the SP and Congress to stop the marauding juggernaut of the NDA, which has now has RLD on its side, as well as a number of caste-based regional parties in the Poorvanchal region.

    In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and allies won 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The party ceded some ground in the 2019 general election, when the opposition parties scraped their combined tally to 16.

    Even with the conventional anti-incumbency apprehensions at work, the saffron party laid its claim on the state winning 62 seats, bolstered further by two more won by its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal).

    In 2019, the maximum seats — 23 — for the BJP came from the state’s western part, where the SP-BSP alliance could manage to win only four seats each. The BSP won Saharanpur, Bijnor, Amroha and Nagina (SC seat) in the western UP, while the Samajwadi Party emerged victorious in Sambhal, Moradabad, Mainpuri (first held by Mulayam Singh Yadav then by Dimple Yadav in a bypoll) and Rampur that year. The central region of the state has prominent parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Rae Bareli — both long considered bastions of the Congress.

    In 2019, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi retained her Rae Bareli seat, while her son Rahul Gandhi lost the long held Amethi constituency to Union minister Smriti Irani.

    Defence minister Rajnath Singh won from Lucknow.

    The BSP won only one seat from this region in Ritesh Pandey, who bagged Ambedkarnagar Lok Sabha constituency. The SP scored a zilch.

    The BJP won 13 seats from the region, which includes the coveted Faizabad Lok Sabha seat, the epicentre of a Hindu reverie that drowned parts of the nation in a collective religious fervour after the Ram Temple consecration.

    Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha, is one of the 30 seats in the eastern part of the state.

    From this region, the BSP won five seats, while the SP won one, Azamgarh. Apna Dal (Sonelal) won two seats from here.

    The Bundelkhand region was swept in 2019 by the BJP, which won all four Lok Sabha seats of Jhansi, Banda, Hamirpur, and Jalaun-SC.

    The parched Bundelkhand region has been seeing the start of some irrigation projects and its residents getting safe drinking water.

    Expressways, new airports in different parts of the UP have narrowed the regional disparity the state has witnessed for a long time.

  • SP, BSP attack BJP over Madhya Pradesh urination incident

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The opposition Samajwadi Party and BSP in Uttar Pradesh slammed the BJP on Thursday over the incident in which a tribal man was urinated upon in Madhya Pradesh.

    The urination incident took place in Sidhi district of the BJP-ruled state. The accused was arrested after a purported video of the act surfaced online and charged under several provisions of the law, including the stringent National Security Act.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday washed the feet of the tribal man while sitting on the floor of his official residence in Bhopal to express sorrow over the incident and apologised to him.

    Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the chief minister was indulging in “theatrics” and a “political stunt” ahead of the assembly elections.

    “The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh calling the victim of the urination incident from Sidhi district to his official residence in Bhopal, about 600 kilometres away, and washing his feet in front of the camera seems to be less of government remorse and more of theatrics and politics of electoral interest.

    Is such an exhibition appropriate,” she asked in a tweet in Hindi.

    “Since the elections to the Madhya Pradesh assembly are around the corner, the government’s uneasiness is natural. But the SC, ST, backward and Muslim communities, as well as others in the state will definitely demand an account of the extent to which their lives have suffered due to inflation and unemployment,” Mayawati added.

    SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident was another shameful chapter in the history of Dalit people.

    “The demonic, heinous act by a BJP worker on a tribal in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district is another shameful chapter in the history of centuries of oppression on the Dalit society. Is this the only achievement of 18 years of the BJP rule in MP? Arrogance will drown the BJP,” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

    LUCKNOW: The opposition Samajwadi Party and BSP in Uttar Pradesh slammed the BJP on Thursday over the incident in which a tribal man was urinated upon in Madhya Pradesh.

    The urination incident took place in Sidhi district of the BJP-ruled state. The accused was arrested after a purported video of the act surfaced online and charged under several provisions of the law, including the stringent National Security Act.

    Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday washed the feet of the tribal man while sitting on the floor of his official residence in Bhopal to express sorrow over the incident and apologised to him.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said the chief minister was indulging in “theatrics” and a “political stunt” ahead of the assembly elections.

    “The chief minister of Madhya Pradesh calling the victim of the urination incident from Sidhi district to his official residence in Bhopal, about 600 kilometres away, and washing his feet in front of the camera seems to be less of government remorse and more of theatrics and politics of electoral interest.

    Is such an exhibition appropriate,” she asked in a tweet in Hindi.

    “Since the elections to the Madhya Pradesh assembly are around the corner, the government’s uneasiness is natural. But the SC, ST, backward and Muslim communities, as well as others in the state will definitely demand an account of the extent to which their lives have suffered due to inflation and unemployment,” Mayawati added.

    SP president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident was another shameful chapter in the history of Dalit people.

    “The demonic, heinous act by a BJP worker on a tribal in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district is another shameful chapter in the history of centuries of oppression on the Dalit society. Is this the only achievement of 18 years of the BJP rule in MP? Arrogance will drown the BJP,” Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.

  • Mayawati wonders if there is collusion between BJP and SP after saffron party’s win in Rampur bypoll

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday attributed the defeat of the Samajwadi Party in the recent Rampur bypoll to “planned low voting”, wondering whether there was a collusion between the SP and the BJP.

    The BJP for the first time won from SP leader Azam Khan’s bastion Rampur, which he represented before he was disqualified after his conviction in a hate speech case.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “The SP won the bypolls held on Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, but it lost for the first time on the seat held by Azam Khan in the assembly by-election due to planned low voting.”

    “Is it not a result of the internal collusion between the BJP and the SP?” In another tweet, she said, “The Muslim community needs to think and understand this so that in the upcoming elections, it can save itself from getting cheated.

    “There is a lot of suspicion over the defeat of the BJP in the Khatauli assembly bypolls, and this is also a matter to think about.”

    Reacting to her statement, BJP’s newly elected MLA from Rampur Akash Saxena said, “In the Lok Sabha bypolls held in Rampur, the voting percentage was 31.5 per cent, and in the recent assembly by-elections held in Rampur, the voting percentage was 35.So, it is wrong to say that there has been a low voter turnout in the by-election. The polling percentage (in the assembly bypolls) has increased by 3.5 points compared to the Lok Sabha bypolls.”

    UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai rebutted the tweets of the BSP chief and told PTI, “This is simply a figment of her imagination. She is saying all this since the BSP is not contesting the elections, nor it is entering the poll fray. And, I feel that in the upcoming urban local bodies elections and in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, if she continues to watch the match from outside the field, then she will continue to make such baseless remarks.”

    Samajwadi Party MLC Ashutosh Sinha told PTI, “The BSP is working as a B-team of the BJP, and in every election, it makes an effort to transfer its vote to the BJP. However, this did not materialise in these bypolls, and the people rejected the BSP after knowing about its intention.”

    In the recently-concluded by-elections, the Samajwadi Party retained the high-profile Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, while the BJP wrested the Rampur Sadar assembly seat from it.

    The ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

    Dimple Yadav, the wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, defeated her nearest rival and BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya by 2,88,461 votes in Mainpuri, a pocket borough of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family.

    The win provided some solace to Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in the bypolls in June.

    Samajwadi Party’s ally Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Madan Bhaiya defeated his BJP rival Rajkumari Saini by a margin of over 22,000 votes in Khatauli.

    Saini is the wife of former BJP MLA Vikram Singh whose disqualification from the state assembly following his conviction in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case necessitated the by-election.

    Madan Bhaiya polled 97,071 votes, while Saini received 74,996, according to the Election Commission.

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday attributed the defeat of the Samajwadi Party in the recent Rampur bypoll to “planned low voting”, wondering whether there was a collusion between the SP and the BJP.

    The BJP for the first time won from SP leader Azam Khan’s bastion Rampur, which he represented before he was disqualified after his conviction in a hate speech case.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “The SP won the bypolls held on Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, but it lost for the first time on the seat held by Azam Khan in the assembly by-election due to planned low voting.”

    “Is it not a result of the internal collusion between the BJP and the SP?” In another tweet, she said, “The Muslim community needs to think and understand this so that in the upcoming elections, it can save itself from getting cheated.

    “There is a lot of suspicion over the defeat of the BJP in the Khatauli assembly bypolls, and this is also a matter to think about.”

    Reacting to her statement, BJP’s newly elected MLA from Rampur Akash Saxena said, “In the Lok Sabha bypolls held in Rampur, the voting percentage was 31.5 per cent, and in the recent assembly by-elections held in Rampur, the voting percentage was 35.So, it is wrong to say that there has been a low voter turnout in the by-election. The polling percentage (in the assembly bypolls) has increased by 3.5 points compared to the Lok Sabha bypolls.”

    UP BJP spokesperson Hero Bajpai rebutted the tweets of the BSP chief and told PTI, “This is simply a figment of her imagination. She is saying all this since the BSP is not contesting the elections, nor it is entering the poll fray. And, I feel that in the upcoming urban local bodies elections and in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, if she continues to watch the match from outside the field, then she will continue to make such baseless remarks.”

    Samajwadi Party MLC Ashutosh Sinha told PTI, “The BSP is working as a B-team of the BJP, and in every election, it makes an effort to transfer its vote to the BJP. However, this did not materialise in these bypolls, and the people rejected the BSP after knowing about its intention.”

    In the recently-concluded by-elections, the Samajwadi Party retained the high-profile Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, while the BJP wrested the Rampur Sadar assembly seat from it.

    The ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

    Dimple Yadav, the wife of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, defeated her nearest rival and BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya by 2,88,461 votes in Mainpuri, a pocket borough of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family.

    The win provided some solace to Akhilesh Yadav after the defeat in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections early this year and the loss of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in the bypolls in June.

    Samajwadi Party’s ally Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Madan Bhaiya defeated his BJP rival Rajkumari Saini by a margin of over 22,000 votes in Khatauli.

    Saini is the wife of former BJP MLA Vikram Singh whose disqualification from the state assembly following his conviction in a 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots case necessitated the by-election.

    Madan Bhaiya polled 97,071 votes, while Saini received 74,996, according to the Election Commission.

  • Dalit boy death: Mayawati demands President’s Rule in Rajasthan

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday demanded President’s Rule in Rajasthan following the death of a Dalit boy, who was allegedly beaten up by his teacher for touching a water pot.

    Nine-year-old Indra Kumar Meghwal, who was studying at a private school in Surana village of Jalore district, was allegedly beaten up on July 20 and he succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Saturday.

    The accused teacher Chail Singh (40) has been arrested. He has been booked for murder and also under The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “A nine-year-old Dalit student of a private school at Surana in Rajasthan’s Jalore district was brutally thrashed by a teacher belonging to upper caste after he drank water from a pot. Yesterday, he died during treatment. No amount of condemnation of this painful incident is less.”

    Slamming the Ashok Gehlot government, she said, “Such painful casteist incidents happen almost every day in Rajasthan. This incident is a clear example to show that the Congress government has failed in protecting the life and dignity of people, especially the Dalits, tribals and the neglected. Therefore, it would be better if this (current) government (of Rajasthan) is dismissed and President’s Rule imposed.”

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday demanded President’s Rule in Rajasthan following the death of a Dalit boy, who was allegedly beaten up by his teacher for touching a water pot.

    Nine-year-old Indra Kumar Meghwal, who was studying at a private school in Surana village of Jalore district, was allegedly beaten up on July 20 and he succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Saturday.

    The accused teacher Chail Singh (40) has been arrested. He has been booked for murder and also under The Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “A nine-year-old Dalit student of a private school at Surana in Rajasthan’s Jalore district was brutally thrashed by a teacher belonging to upper caste after he drank water from a pot. Yesterday, he died during treatment. No amount of condemnation of this painful incident is less.”

    Slamming the Ashok Gehlot government, she said, “Such painful casteist incidents happen almost every day in Rajasthan. This incident is a clear example to show that the Congress government has failed in protecting the life and dignity of people, especially the Dalits, tribals and the neglected. Therefore, it would be better if this (current) government (of Rajasthan) is dismissed and President’s Rule imposed.”

  • ‘Offered her UP CM post, but she didn’t respond’: Rahul hits out at Mayawati

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Constitution is a weapon but it is meaningless without institutions, which he alleged have been captured by the RSS.

    He also hit out at Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, saying she did not respond to the Congress’s offer to contest the Uttar Pradesh polls together.

    Releasing a book, titled “The Dalit Truth”, on the battles of Dalits and for realising B R Ambedkar’s vision, Gandhi exhorted Dalits to fight for their rights by treading the path shown by Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi.

    “The Constitution is the weapon of India but it has no meaning without institutions. The Constitution without institutions has no meaning. We talk of protecting the Constitution. But how is the Constitution implemented? With institutions.

    All institutions are in the hands of the RSS,” he alleged.

    Noting that if institutions are not controlled by people, neither is the country, the Congress leader said, “This is not a new assault. It started the day when Mahatma Gandhi was killed with bullets.”

    He said Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, gave the weapon to people “but today, that weapon has no meaning” as the media is being controlled and a spyware (Pegasus) is being used to control political leaders.

    Gandhi said he would not have been able to speak up against the government had he taken any money and alleged that the CBI and the ED control the political system.

    Taking on Mayawati, he said, “We gave a message to Mayawati to form an alliance and asked her to become the chief minister. She did not even talk to us.”

    Gandhi said he had respect for Kanshi Ram for articulating the Dalit voice of Uttar Pradesh, due to which the Congress had suffered, and alleged that Mayawati gave a clear passage to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and that was because of “the CBI, the ED and Pegasus”.

    The former Congress chief said people can only fight till such time they speak up or else, institutions will continue to be used and controlled and the Constitution will not be followed.

    “This is the reality of India. And when the Constitution becomes defunct, the weak are the worst affected — Dalits, minorities, tribals, unemployed, small farmers and the poor,” he said.

    Pointing out to the state of the country’s economy, Gandhi said, “This is the time to fight.”

    He said Ambedkar and Gandhi had shown that “there is a path, but you need to tread on it. There is a way, but you need to tread that path”.

  • BSP’s list of candidates for UP polls resembles ‘Muslim league’, says Adityanath

    By PTI

    GORAKHPUR/DEORIA: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused the opposition of playing politics of “appeasement” and alleged that the Bahujan Samaj Party’s list of candidates for the state polls resembled a “Muslim league”.

    Addressing a series of meetings in the poll-bound state, he said the opposition parties are spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank.

    “While the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) candidate list gives a clear message that the party is not ready to leave criminals, goons and rioters, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) list of candidates resembles a ‘Muslim league’. This proves that they will not give equal representation to all sections and regions,” he said during public meetings at Pathardeva, Salempur and Rudrapur assembly constituencies in Deoria.

    Targeting the alleged appeasement policy of the Samajwadi Party, Adityanath said under the earlier regime, electricity was provided on the occasions of Eid-Bakrid, while there were power cuts during Holi and Deepawali in the state.

    “For the first time, government schemes are reaching every individual in the state under the BJP government,” he said.

    The chief minister further said people have rejected the “hardcore dynasts” and ‘lotus’ (BJP election symbol) is sure to bloom at every booth of Gorakhpur.

    Addressing an election rally in Pipraich assembly constituency, he termed it as “futile” to trust the opportunist leaders who keep changing friends with every election, referring to SP-BSP and SP-Congress alliances in earlier elections in the state.

    “Our government’s sentiments are with every section of the society, but SP’s support base is with terrorists. The previous Samajwadi Party government was the first to withdraw terror cases,” he alleged.

    Claiming that all-around development has been done by his government in the state, the BJP leader said, “If our double engine government comes to power again, all women of over 60 years of age can travel for free in state-run buses.”

    He also emphasised the fact that no riots took place in the state under his governance, nor did women or businessmen suffered harassment.

    “We did what we said. We also promise to provide government jobs or employment to one youth of every family in the next five years,” he added.

    At another election meeting in Deoria, Adityanath accused the opposition parties of “doing politics of appeasement and spreading hatred among communities to increase their votebank”, adding that their candidate lists reflect their “vested interests”.

    Reiterating that SP and BSP’s rule was synonymous with anarchy, terror and hooliganism, he said, “Whenever they (SP, BSP) ruled, riots took place. No riots took place in the last five years, while 700 riots took place during SP government and 364 riots during BSP’s rule.”

    The Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that the BJP has attained an inaccessible lead in the first five phases of the ongoing assembly polls and the party is poised well to hit a ‘sixer’ in the final phases to romp home with 300-plus seats.

  • UP polls: BSP’s appeal resonates among loyalists; some look at alternatives

    By PTI

    HANDIA/SAIDPUR: ‘Behen ji’ is the head of the family and the family is all of us, a group of Jatav men at Sandaha village say, asserting that their vote to Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party is not tied to its fortunes in any election but to keep the party strong.

    “If we don’t vote it, then who will,” Vishal Kumar, who studies in an NIT in Karnataka, asks in a pointer to the largest Dalit community, who are estimated to number nearly 11-12 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, being the most loyal supporters of the party.

    From the state’s western edges neighbouring Delhi to its eastern part, the BSP appears to be holding a big chunk of its core votes but yet there are signs that some of them are considering other options, with the Samajwadi Party being seen as a main challenger to the BJP in most of the seats in the elections to the 403-member assembly.

    At several places, young members of the community criticise the BJP for a lack of employment opportunities, showing an inclination towards Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

    In Hathauda village, Suraj Kumar, 22, and his young friends lament the lack of recruitment in the Army or other central police forces for quite a few years, expressing apprehension that they will soon be overage.

    He says it is thanks to the support from his elder brother working in the CRPF that his households manage to get by.

    “It is a hard life,” he says.

    However, there are counter-views as well.

    With many community members depending on daily menial work, which was hit hard during the Covid-19 pandemic, some express their happiness at the free ration scheme of the BJP governments at the Centre and the state.

    They are also wary of an SP government.

    “It is difficult for us to live in peace when they are in power,” Manoj Kumar, a fruit-seller, says, in a reference to the Samajwadi Party.

    The BJP has constantly linked the party’s previous stint in Lucknow with law and order problems, a charge which appears to resonate with a big section of voters.

    But it is also clear that the BSP remains the party they consider their own.

    “Mayawati’s rule was known for tough administration and its control over law and order. There is no casteism under her. She has worked to give us samman (respect) and made us equal with others,” he says.

    Some BJP and Samajwadi Party leaders acknowledged that the BSP’s grip over Jatav voters is so firm that their workers consider it a waste of time to campaign in their villages.

    The BSP’s problem is, though, visible when it comes to attracting votes from members of other communities, which is necessary for it to become a serious contender for power.

    The party has fielded more Muslims than Samajwadi Party but even in seats like Prayagraj West, where the BSP candidate is a Muslim while the SP’s is not, members of the minority community have put their faith in Akhilesh Yadav’s nominee.

    Political watchers believe that the BSP will have a decent chance in seats where it has strong candidates from other communities that will combine with Jatav votes to put it in contention.

    A BJP leader, who did not wish to be named, said that it is these committed BSP voters who have ensured that a ticket from the party remains in demand among local politicians with a following of their own.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently acknowledged the BSP’s strength among Dalits, saying it will draw their votes and also a section of Muslims, a remark seen by some to be tactical as the BJP may believe that a complete marginalisation of the party may not suit it.

    The bond that the BSP enjoys with its loyal supporters is so deep that some can’t even countenance any suggestion of the party being not so strong this time.

    “Behen ji has kept a low profile due to strategic reasons. She is fighting in a silent mode to keep rivals clueless. Wait for the results,” Karmraj Gautam, who works with Bahujan Volunteer Force, an organisation that works to maintain order at BSP’s programmes, said at a rally site of Mayawati.

    He, then, added, “For us, Bahujan Samaj Party is part of our identity.”

  • Miffed over denial of ticket, BJP leaders quits party, joins BSP

    By PTI

    MATHURA: Pained over the denial of ticket for the upcoming Assembly polls, senior BJP leader S K Sharma resigned from the primary membership of the party and joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday.

    His close aide Niraj Rawat also followed suit.

    Sharma had contested the 2017 Assembly elections on the BJP ticket from Mant constituency.

    “The BJP has deceived me twice and the party has lost its earlier character,” Sharma told reporters.

    Sharma said though he wanted to contest from Mathura in 2017, the BJP leadership compelled him to enter the fray from Mant and assured him a berth in the legislative council in case he lost.

    Though he was not offered a seat in the Upper House, Sharma said, he was instructed to work in Mant and the leadership assured him a ticket from the same constituency this time.

    However, that was not to be the case.

    Sharma said he did not seek a “single penny” from the BJP but mentioned that he had given enough to the party.

    “Now, I have resigned from all positions in the BJP and joined the BSP. Not only this, I will also contest as the BSP candidate from Mathura,” Sharma, who is expected to file his nomination papers on Thursday, said.

    Meanwhile, alliance partners Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) seem to have locked horns over the Mant Assembly seat.

    Despite the pact between the two parties, SP’s national spokesperson Sanjai Lathar claimed that the party has given him a go ahead to contest from the constituency while RLD candidate Yogesh Nauhar has already filed his nomination papers claiming that he is the official candidate of the alliance.

    The BJP on Wednesday released the name of one more candidate for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, fielding Mukta Raja from Aligarh.

    With this, the BJP has so far announced 110 candidates for the state assembly polls, where the party is contesting elections in an alliance with the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party.

    The party on Wednesday announced that Mukta Raja will be its candidate from Aligarh assembly.

    Earlier in the day, the top brass of the BJP including its president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah held deliberations with Uttar Pradesh unit leaders including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to finalise the remaining candidates for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

    The BJP leaders also held meetings with Apnal Dal leader Anupriya Patel and Nishad Party leader Sanjay Nishad to finalise the seat sharing agreement.

    The elections for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls will be held in seven phases starting from February 10.

  • Enfgame for BSP? Mayawati in tight spot with desertions galore

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  After helming Uttar Pradesh for four terms, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati now appears at the crossroads of her career amid questions being raised about her leadership. She has not been able to keep her flock intact ahead of the Assembly elections due in 2022. 

    A gradual erosion of the party began after 2007 and led to a steady migration of her supporters, reducing the BSP’s socio-political space.

    The ‘Bahujan’ movement changed colours to include the upper castes in its scheme of things and weakened over the years as the party drifted from its social base.

    The core social groups, which had been backing the BSP till 2007 Assembly elections in UP, have now sided with the BJP. This has led to the decline in the number of BSP’s seats and vote share since the 2012 assembly polls.

    In 2007, when the BSP won a majority, it fielded candidates on all 403 seats and won 206 with 30.43% of the vote share. This went down in 2012, when it could get only 80 of 403 seats it had contested. The vote share dipped to 25.91%. It emerged as the second strongest party in the state with the BJP slipping to third slot.

    In 2017, the scenario reversed with the BSP moving to number three position as it could win just 19 seats of the 403 it had contested. Its vote share decreased further as it got only 22.2% ofvotes. Mayawati’s failure to project a charismatic second rung leadership hastened the BSP’s decline.

    Instead of inducting the heavyweights from other parties, Mayawati lost the stalwarts who had been with her right from the beginning.

    While Swami Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak joined the saffron bandwagon in 2016, the likes of Lalji Verma, Ram Achal Rajbhar and Indrajeet Saroj defected to the SP recently.

    Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Mayawati’s most trusted lieutenant, also left her to find solace in the Congress. Other BSP leaders who defected to the SP recently included Ghatampur MLA R P Kushwaha, K K Gautam, Saharanpur MP Qadir Rana and former state BSP chief R S Kushwaha.

    To arrest the dwindling support base under an overarching saffron wave, Mayawati cobbled up an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party for 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    The alliance seemed unbeatable. But on ground, things did not work as expected and the BSP, after gaining 10 parliamentary seats, parted ways with the SP, blaming the failure on Akhilesh Yadav.

    With only a few months left for the state polls, sources suggest eight more BSP rebel MLAs may join the SP soon.

    Political experts believe that as the BSP is witnessing a drought of second-rung leadership, its political relevance is also at stake as those active in the party have started exploring greener pastures.

    “Those defecting from the BSP often accuse the leadership of losing its grip over the people. Prominent leaders who have defected since 2016 have accused Mayawati of arrogance and extortion as the key reasons for their departure. These complaints increased after the BSP broke its pact with the SP following an alliance in 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” says Prof AK Mishra, a political analyst.

    After a recent shifting of loyalties, BSP national general secretary and Mayawati’s close confidante Satish Chandra Mishra has emerged as a thorn in the flesh of the 11 party MLAs who were sacked by her in the past two years. Many accuse Mishra of misleading Mayawati.

    While making desperate efforts to retain its core base, Mayawati is pinning hopes on her nephew Akash Anand to mobilise the youth for the party.

    Akash, son of her younger brother Anand Kumar, has held a series of meetings with party leaders to chalk out a campaign strategy in UP.

    He was active in Punjab where the BSP has entered into an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal.  He is likely to work with SC Mishra’s son Kapil to woo the young voters in the state.