RS ticket to SC Mishra, set for second term

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Friday re-nominated her aide and party's Brahmin face Satish Chandra Mishra to Rajya Sabha, setting aside speculations of shunning her upper caste leaders to consolidate the Dalit votebank ahead of UP elections.
This will be the second RS term for Mishra, who is also Mayawati's lawyer. Mishra had been keeping a low-profile since BSP's drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections when the BJP swayed away Mayawati's Dalit votebank.
Mayawati also nominated party's zonal coordinator from west UP, Ashok Siddharth, a Jatav, to Rajya Sabha, signalling her Dalit outreach. This would be Sidhartha's first stint in Parliament, though he has been an BSP MLC. He is also BSP in charge of southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry.
But BSP's strength will get reduced from nine to five in the Rajya Sabha from July 4 when the term of its five MPs ends. Sources said by nominating a Dalit and a Brahmin to the upper house, Mayawati has attempted to strike a caste balance, with Dalits - ostensibly Jatav (the caste to which Mayawati belongs) being given an advantage in term of numbers.
The BSP will now have three Jatavs, (Mayawati, Siddharth and Veer Singh), a Brahmin (SC Mishra) and a Muslim (Munquad Ali) in the Rajya Sabha.
Mayawati furthered up her caste-laden agenda when she nominated three candidates for UP legislative polls, even though the party can send only two. The BSP chief has nominated two Dalits -- Dinesh Chandra from Sultanpur and Atar Singh Rao from Meerut -- and one OBC, Suresh Kashyap, a BSP coordinator from Ghaziabad. Mayawati, in a statement, also pointed out that she has already sent a Muslim, Naseemuddin Siddiqui and a Thakur, Jaiveer Singh to UP's upper house.