Kin didn't vote for BSP, Maya sacks ex-MLC

Lucknow: A Bahujan Samaj Party leader from Farrukhabad was recently shown the door by Mayawati after it transpired that his family did not vote for the party's candidate in Lok Sabha elections 2014.
Former MLC Manoj Agarwal and his family of five were supposed to cast vote at a booth located in a school in Chowk area of Farrukhabad district in 2014 Parliamentary elections.Now, it came to light that BSP candidate Jaiveer Singh got only two votes at the said booth, which otherwise had on its rolls more than 700 voters. "If a leader cannot get even his family to vote in favor of his party's candidate what can be expected of him," said a senior BSP leader privy to the development. BSP zonal coordinator, Ashok Siddharth, confirmed to TOI that Agarwal had been axed from the party for "indulging in anti-party activities".
Agarwal was elected panchayat chairman with the support of BSP in 2006. He contested 2007 assembly elections on a BSP ticket but lost. Mayawati, who rode to power in UP the same year not only spared him she even sent him to the legislative council in 2010. His term expired in January 2016. BSP sources said Agarwal was seeking a party ticket for 2017 UP assembly elections. But his opponents spilled the beans by producing records of the said booth before Mayawati.
BSP sources said Agarwal had also been facing charges of hobnobbing with the BJP for quite some time. He is reported to have been present at the spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's grand cultural festival which was attended largely by BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year. This too didn't go down well with the BSP boss, who eventually decided to axe Agarwal.
After losing Lok Sabha elections in 2014, BSP candidate Jaiveer Singh too joined the saffron camp in July 2015. A cabinet minister in previous Mayawati regime, Singh is said to have been a strong Thakur face of BSP.
BSP sources said while Agarwal had been getting votes of Dalits in previous elections, he could not win confidence of his own community, including his family. Political experts said this has once again proved that BSP chief Mayawati faced a humiliating defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha elections because her own cadre did not support her.