More leaders ready to desert BSP even as embarrassed Mayawati plays Dalit card

In a knee jerk reaction, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati suspended seven of its party’s lawmakers but not before facing her worst ever embarrassment when her 'deal' with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to the fore, which is a big humiliation for her before the 2022 Assembly polls.

Defection in BSP is not new. Since 1993, when BSP for the first time tasted power, it has faced many defections with big names like Swamy Prasad Maurya, Nasisimmuddin Soddaqui, R K Chaudhry and Brijesh Pathak deserting BSP from time to time. But it was the first time that party MLAs revolted against Mayawati’s diktat which signifies the weakening of Mayawati’s control over the party.

“Many more legislators are ready to desert BSP,” a lawmaker who has revolted against Mayawati said. SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry said around two dozen senior BSP leaders are in touch with Akhilesh Yadav.

Observers believe that Mayawati’s move may dent her control over Dalits and Muslims because they are now eager to move out of her fiefdom. Mayawati knows that and therefore she played the Dalit card. Attacking the Samajwadi Party during her press conference, she said, “The SP and its people tried to kill me on June 2, 1995 but I was saved due to blessings of Dalits. They (SP leaders) even tried to kidnap BSP MLAs to save their government. Even after this unforgettable incident just to defeat communal forces, we decided to ally with them in the 2019 general elections, and this was my mistake.”

She even repented taking back the June 2 case saying that after the alliance in 2019, the SP chief requested SC Mishra to ask me to take back the case. “We took back the case, but after the results of the elections and the attitude of the SP we regret that we took back the case. “That was the apman (insult) of Dalit ki beti which no Dalit can forget,” she said.

Insiders say that cracks in the party appeared in the party when Mayawati announced candidates for seven seats in UP, where bypolls are due on November 3. It was clear that she has entered into a pact with BJP in exchange of a Rajya Sabha seat because she fielded Muslim candidates in Muslim-dominated seats just to confuse the Muslim voters.

Mayawati revealed the ‘plot’ today when she said: “We will with our full force defeat the SP candidate no matter even if our MLAs have to vote for BJP or any other candidate.”

Eyebrows were raised when BSP decided to contest the by-elections because traditionally BSP does not contest bypolls. “The decision of the party leadership amazed us and we knew that something is cooking between BSP and BJP,” one of the NLAs who was suspended told this reporter.

“Mayawati announced the candidates in bypolls first and then candidates for the Rajya Sabha were announced. Connect the dots, you will get the picture," claimed another leader.

The MLAs then decided to unfurl a banner of revolt against the party leadership. Five of them, namely Aslam Chaudhary, Aslam Rainee, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Hakim Lal Bind and Govind Jatav, joined the SP camp and took back their names as proposers of the BSP candidate Ramji Gautam.

One of the MLAs revealed that initially leader of BSP Legislature party Lalji Verma also wanted to join them but later he developed cold feet.

“This is the beginning of the end of Mayawati,” one of the law makers said. “Muslims have deserted BSP because of her move to side with BJP. The Dalits will follow suit,” he said.