Lucknow: To set the equations right in their
constituencies in view of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections
early next year, many political leaders in the state have bid
good bye to their parties and switched over to rival sides to
ensure that they get tickets.
The 'party-hopping' trend started in May when sitting BSP
MLA from Masauli in Barabanki district Fareed Mahfooz Kidwai
joined SP.
Since then, there has been competition between the two
rival parties as three more BSP MLAs joined SP while seven SP
MLAs became members of the ruling party. Three BJP leaders
have also joined the main Opposition party.
Last month, BSP MLAs-Sher Bahadur Singh from Jalalpur
(Ambedkar Nagar) and Krishna Kumar Singh alias Satish Verma
from Mallawan (Hardoi) joined SP which also announced tickets
to them. Another tainted BSP MLA from Dibai Bhagwan Sharma
alias Guddu Pandit also joined SP.
Two BJP MLAs-Yashwant Singh Chauhan (Sikandarau) and
Rajedra Singh (Fatehabad) and former MLA and state secretary
of BJP Gomti Yadav also joined SP, which claims that its
popularity was on the rise among people as it was the only
party which took to the streets against the Mayawati
government's "misrule".
"They were fed-up with the misrule of BSP government,
that is why they came to the SP. The party will be
strengthened by their joining," SP state president Akhilesh
Yadav said while announcing party tickets to the former BSP
members.
However, BSP claims that SP has readily accepted the
members to botch the present regime's prospects, disregarding
the fact that they do not have clean records.
"All the four MLAs were not working as per the ideologies
of the parties and had joined SP as they were denied party
(BSP) tickets. They were already suspended as there were a lot
of complaints against them from their respective
constituencies," a BSP spokesman said.
In a bid to check leaders leaving the party, BSP supremo
Mayawati has assured that she will try to accommodate all the
sitting MLAs and the left outs will be "compensated" suitably
after the elections.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, August 07, 2011, 17:36