Tag: Bahujan Samaj Party

  • Endgame 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.

  • UP Polls: Mayawati to interview BSP ticket aspirants in Lucknow

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  With Assembly elections just a few months away, political parties in Uttar Pradesh have already started confabulations on the ticket distribution. 

    The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has in the past faced allegations of seeking huge amounts of money from ticket seekers, has this time decided to conduct four rounds of interview of the aspirants to ensure transparency in the ticket distribution process.

    According to party insiders, BSP chief Mayawati will meet the ticket-seekers and put the final seal on the names of the candidates. Highly placed sources said the party has started calling potential candidates to Lucknow for the interview. 

    Mayawati’s announcement at her October 9 Lucknow rally that she would pay surprise visits to districts to evaluate the party’s poll preparedness had led the BSP cadre to step up preparations at the district level and the process of interviewing prospective candidates was commenced.

    As per BSP sources, in the first round of interview, the aspirants are being asked to furnish their bio-data listing their strengths and weaknesses.

    The party would assess their credibility and background. In round two, the aspirants’ presence on social media will be evaluated.

    They will be asked about their association with the Bahujan movement. In the third round, they will be asked about the problems plaguing the constituency of their choice and the solutions they have in mind. 

    In the last round, Mayawati will ask the ticket seekers about their political journey and why should they be given ticket. They will be asked about the work done by them in the constituency.

    Their popularity will be evaluated by conducting surveys. If they furnish wrong information, strict action will be taken.

    Despite all these steps, the BSP leadership has come under cloud as senior leader Mehraj Ali in Aligarh has accused party leaders of asking for Rs 2.30 crore in lieu of poll ticket.

    BSP district chief Ratandeep Singh denied the allegations and said Ali has not been active in the party.

  • Repeal farm laws, relieve farmers: BSP chief Mayawati tells Centre

    BSP supremo Mayawati said she expects the government to repeal the three contentious farm laws and relieve the farmers.

  • UP Polls 2022: BJP seeking vote in name of ‘Ram’, SP in name of ‘Jinnah’, alleges BSP

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of upcoming Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria on Friday slammed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) for allegedly indulging in religion-based politics in the state.

    Speaking to ANI here in New Delhi, Bhadoria said, “BJP is seeking vote in the name of ‘Ram’ in Uttar Pradesh and SP is seeking it in the name of ‘Jinnah’, but public will give vote based on work, not on religion.”

    “What works have they done? Both parties failed to maintain the law and order in the state. People want BSP to rule and that is why BSP will form the government in the upcoming assembly elections,” he added.

    Elections for 403 assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh are due early next year.

    In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

  • Mayawati alleges collusion between SP, BJP over Akhilesh Yadav’s Jinnah remark

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The BSP hit out at Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday for speaking of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah in the same breath and alleged that there is a “collusion” between the SP and the BJP.

    In a tweet in Hindi, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati alleged that Yadav’s remarks on Jinnah and the BJP’s response to it are part of a well-thought-out strategy of the two parties to vitiate the atmosphere on Hindu-Muslim lines ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    “The politics of the SP and the BJP have been complementary to each other. Since the thinking of these two parties is casteist and communal, their existence has been based on each other. That is why when the SP is in power, the BJP becomes strong, whereas when the BSP is in power, the BJP becomes weak,” she added.

    Yadav lavished praise on Patel on his 146th birth anniversary at a public meeting in Hardoi on Sunday, but raised eyebrows when he appeared to equate the four leaders, including Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

    “Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped (India) get freedom and never backed away from any struggle,” he said.

    The SP chief also referred to the ban imposed on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) by Patel, the then Union home minister, following Gandhi’s assassination in 1948, saying only he could do it.

  • SP, BSP district chiefs among seven held for 17-year-old girl’s rape in Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    LALTIPUR: Seven people, including the district presidents of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, have so far been arrested in connection with the rape of a 17-year-old girl here, police said on Saturday.

    Superintendent of Police Nikhil Pathak said the arrests were made following the girl’s complaint that she was raped for five years in different parts of the city and named 25 people in her complaint along with three unknown persons.

    ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu: Relative held for rape, murder of 13-year-old girl

    A case was registered at Sadar Kotwali police station on October 12 against 25 people — including the victim’s father and uncle — and three unknown persons.

    The SP said a hotel in Mirzapur district was raided on Friday from where Tilak Yadav and Deepak Ahirvar, the SP and BSP district chiefs of Lalitpur respectively, and an engineer named Mahendra Dubey were arrested.

    The three were produced before a local court, which sent them to 14-day judicial custody.

    Earlier, four people were arrested in connection with the case.

  • EC should ban pre-poll surveys by media outlets six months before elections: BSP chief Mayawati

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday said she will write to the Election Commission demanding surveys by media organisations and other agencies be banned six months before any elections, so that the polls in the particular state are not influenced by it.

    Addressing the 15th death anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram here at the Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, Mayawati demanded that Bharat Ratna be given to the late Dalit leader and added that people in Uttar Pradesh have made up their mind on changing power in the state.

    “Soon, a letter will be written to the Election Commission that surveys in the garb of business, by media organisations and other agencies be banned six months before the elections, so that the polls in the particular state are not influenced,” she said.

    “You know that when the Assembly elections in West Bengal were going on, surveys were showing that Mamata Banerjee was trailing, but when the results came, it was the opposite. Those who were dreaming of (gaining) power, their dreams were shattered, and Mamata (Banerjee) staged a comeback with a huge majority. Hence, you should not be misled by these surveys,” the BSP chief told the public.

    Mayawati’s remarks came a day after a news channel in a survey showed that the BJP is poised to win the most number of seats in UP in the upcoming 2022 Assembly polls, and retain power. She also said the BJP-led Centre and UP governments are using the state machinery to make the atmosphere in their favour.

    “It is also known to everyone that when these tactics do not work, then that party (BJP) will eventually give the election a Hindu-Muslim colour, and try to take full political advantage in its garb. Elections have to be fought keeping this in mind,” she said.

    Without naming any party, Mayawati also said, “There are small parties and organisations, which may contest the elections alone or jointly. Their job is not to win the polls, but to give advantage to the ruling party from behind the scene, to realise their own vested interest. Hence, people of these castes and communities should not come under the influence of these parties and organisations.”

    Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar had claimed last month that Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad will soon be a part of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha and a formal announcement in this regard will be made at a rally on October 27.

    The morcha is a front of like-minded political parties led by Rajbhar, a former BJP ally. The AIMIM had recently announced that it would contest 100 seats in the state assembly polls next year by tying up with Rajbhar-led SBSP and its Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha.

    Rajbhar, who was a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, had resigned before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. He had later launched the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha as a political front of smaller parties.

  • Nation wants to know what is being done to give justice to farmers: BSP slams Yogi government

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Slamming the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government over inaction in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Tuesday demanded justice for those killed in the violence that broke out after a car hit protesting farmers in the district.

    BSP National Spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria questioned the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government as to what was it doing to provide justice to the farmers.

    Speaking to ANI Bhadoria said, “As far as Lakhimpur Kheri incident is concerned it is “Black Day in Indian history” where so many farmers have been crushed to death and no FIR has been registered, no action has been taken against such people. The nation wants to know what is the Uttar Pradesh government doing about giving justice to the farmers and to the society.”

    BSP leader further slammed Uttar Pradesh Minister Siddharth Nath Singh for his comment that “we have made a settlement with the farmers and now Opposition should stop political tourism”.

    “Such kind of irresponsible statement from BJP leader is very unfortunate. When people die, expressing condolences with their families is political tourism. I think this may be the culture of the BJP to conduct political tourism in the agony and in the suffering of the people but we want to go to express our concern and solidarity with the farmer of the Lakhimpur Kheri,” said Bhadoria.

    As many as eight people died in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday, said Uttar Pradesh police.

    “Four farmers and four others have died (in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident). Probe underway. It’s an unfortunate incident, should not be politicised,” Lakhimpur Kheri District Magistrate Arvind Kumar Chaurasiya told reporters.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) issued a statement regarding the incident claiming the death of four farmers and alleged that one of the four farmers was shot dead by Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni’s son, while the others have been allegedly run over by the vehicles of his convoy.

    Meanwhile, refuting SKM’s allegations, MoS Teni said that his son was not present at the spot, adding that some miscreants merged with protesting farmers and pelted stones on the car which led to the ‘unfortunate incident’.

  • Mayawati slams BJP, says UP Cabinet expansion aimed at mobilising caste votes

    By ANI

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Uttar Pradesh government for trying to mobilise the votes on the basis of caste by inducting new ministers in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led Cabinet, months ahead of Assembly polls in the state.

    Taking to Twitter, the BSP chief cautioned the voters of the poll-bound state about the “dual character” of the Uttar Pradesh government and alleged the not only BJP-led government has not taken any concrete steps for the development of the sections BJP is allegedly trying to appease by inducting new ministers but also halted the projected stated during her government in the state for them.

    “Whoever has been made a minister by BJP yesterday to mobilise votes on the basis of caste in UP, it would have been better if they did not accept it. Because by the time they will understand their respective ministry and want to do something, the code of conduct for election will be implemented here,” she tweeted.

    “While the present BJP government has not taken any concrete steps for the development and upliftment of these sections of society, but most of the works started by the BSP government in their interests have also been stopped. Advice to these classes to be careful with this double-character of their’s (government),” Mayawati added.

    Ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls that are scheduled to be held early next year, seven new ministers took the oath of office in the UP cabinet on Sunday.

    The is seen as an attempt to set the caste balance right and give more representation to most backwards and schedule castes before elections in the state.

    Among the ministers who took oath are Jitin Prasada, a Brahmin switched over from Congress in June this year.

    Out of six others, Dharmveer Prajapati, Chhatrapal Gangawar and Sangita Balwant Bind are from other backward classes (OBC), Paltu Ram, and Dinesh Khatik belong to scheduled caste, and Sanjeev Kumar Gond, who belongs to the Gond community– a scheduled tribe.

    Prasada is the only cabinet minister, the other six have been given the rank of minister of state (MoS).

    Uttar Pradesh is the fourth BJP-ruled state where a major rejig is happening after Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttarakhand.

    Earlier in the month, Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as Gujarat’s new chief minister replacing Vijay Rupani. The entire Gujarat cabinet was changed subsequently.

    In Uttarakhand, the BJP had changed its CM three times. After Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned as CM, Tirath Singh Rawat had taken the charge. But he was later replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami.

    In Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai in July.

  • SAD swaps two seats with BSP in Punjab

    By ANI

    CHANDIGARH: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that the party has taken back Amritsar North and Sujanpur seats from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), informed Daljit Singh Cheema.

    In place, the BSP has been given Sham Chaurasi and Kapurthala assembly seats.

    “SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal announced that it has taken Amritsar North and Sujanpur seats back from BSP. In place, BSP has been given Sham Chaurasi and Kapurthala assembly seats,” tweeted senior SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema.

    Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in June formed an alliance to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections together.

    Assembly elections are scheduled to be held next year.