- News>
- Newspapers
BSP done in by friends of convenience and money: The Hindustan Times
Lucknow, Sept 07: When the Opposition went after Mayawati in the assembly last March, her staunchest defenders were BSP MLAs Amarmani Tripathi and Mukhtar Ansari. Guess where they are today, six months after?
Lucknow, Sept 07: When the Opposition went after Mayawati in the assembly last March, her staunchest defenders were BSP MLAs Amarmani Tripathi and Mukhtar Ansari. Guess where they are today, six months after?
Tripathi was among the 37 BSP MLAs who met speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi on Saturday asking him to recognise them as a separate party. The BSP is not their party any longer, and Mayawati is not their leader.
Why are BSP MLAs bolting? The answer lies, it seems, in another question: Who are the legislators deserting Mayawati? Here is a small clue: 15 of them are Thakurs, nine Muslims and three Yadavs.
That's 27, of the 37, who had no belief in, or commitment to, the BSP cause. The upper caste Thakurs, for instance, would have little or no sympathy for the BSP's overarching Dalit cause.
Of the rest, seven were in the Congress after the February, 2002 elections till Mayawati invited them to join the cabinet. Rank outsiders all, a fact that is being acknowledged by the party.
Former BSP speaker Barkhu Ram Verma, who is fighting hard to save the party from a split, says, "Most first-timers have deserted us. None of the 37 legislators belonged to the party cadre."
Most of these MLAs openly admit to the fact that they had nothing to do with the BSP or its cause. They joined the party close to the 2002 elections simply because they were promised party tickets.
They also allege — a charge denied by Mayawati — they paid handsomely for the tickets. Tripathi is said to have forked out Rs 70 lakh. But when contacted, he neither confirmed nor denied it.
Most MLAs contacted refused to go on record saying it would get them into tax trouble. But Choudhary Narendra Singh, former BSP cabinet minister, alleges that at least 50 per cent of the party tickets were up for grabs in the last elections for Rs 10-50 lakh each.
Having bought their way into the party, they now feel no remorse in dumping Mayawati. "There is no question of bonding with the party when tickets are sold and bought," says a rebel MLA.
But these are also practical men and women. Some don't see the estrangement as complete. A deserter says: "Around next elections, you will find many of us outside her door, with bags full of money."
Why are BSP MLAs bolting? The answer lies, it seems, in another question: Who are the legislators deserting Mayawati? Here is a small clue: 15 of them are Thakurs, nine Muslims and three Yadavs.
That's 27, of the 37, who had no belief in, or commitment to, the BSP cause. The upper caste Thakurs, for instance, would have little or no sympathy for the BSP's overarching Dalit cause.
Of the rest, seven were in the Congress after the February, 2002 elections till Mayawati invited them to join the cabinet. Rank outsiders all, a fact that is being acknowledged by the party.
Former BSP speaker Barkhu Ram Verma, who is fighting hard to save the party from a split, says, "Most first-timers have deserted us. None of the 37 legislators belonged to the party cadre."
Most of these MLAs openly admit to the fact that they had nothing to do with the BSP or its cause. They joined the party close to the 2002 elections simply because they were promised party tickets.
They also allege — a charge denied by Mayawati — they paid handsomely for the tickets. Tripathi is said to have forked out Rs 70 lakh. But when contacted, he neither confirmed nor denied it.
Most MLAs contacted refused to go on record saying it would get them into tax trouble. But Choudhary Narendra Singh, former BSP cabinet minister, alleges that at least 50 per cent of the party tickets were up for grabs in the last elections for Rs 10-50 lakh each.
Having bought their way into the party, they now feel no remorse in dumping Mayawati. "There is no question of bonding with the party when tickets are sold and bought," says a rebel MLA.
But these are also practical men and women. Some don't see the estrangement as complete. A deserter says: "Around next elections, you will find many of us outside her door, with bags full of money."