Close on the heels of the departure of senior OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya from the Bahujan Samaj Party, another former minister R.K. Chaudhary has also quit the party on Thursday.
One of the founding members of the BSP, Mr. Chaudhary severely criticised BSP chief and former chief minister Mayawati’s style of functioning. The party had “ceased to be a movement for social change”, Mr Chaudhary said, and was run like the BSP chief’s “private real estate company.”
Echoing Mr. Maurya, Mr. Chaudhary also accused Ms. Mayawati of selling tickets elections.
Land mafia favoured
The Pasi (Dalit) leader, who was the zonal coordinator of Varanasi and Allahabad, said ground level and “missionary” workers of the BSP felt neglected as property dealers, land mafia and contractors were being favoured for tickets and ministerial posts.
“I could not fit into this ever-changing work culture. She did not give importance to ground workers but took random decisions on the advice of sycophants. I strongly feel she does not listen to anybody, least of all her party workers. There seems no scope for correction in Ms Mayawati even as senior leaders quit the party,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
He accused the BSP chief of compromising on the ideology of Ambedkar, Periyar, Jyotiba Phule, Sahuji Maharaj and Kanshi Ram.
No new party
Mr. Chaudhary, a three-time MLA, said he would hold a meeting with cadre and “friends” on July 11 to decide the next step. He however, dismissed the idea of forming a new party and said he had not considered aligning with Mr. Maurya.
Mr. Chaudhary’s exit is expected to upset the BSP’s calculations among Pasis, who are known to feel that Ms. Mayawati unduly favours her community, the Jatavs. The BJP has also been aggressively wooing the Pasis through its Hindutva programmes.
The BSP said Mr. Chaudhary’s presence or exit would not impact its prospects. Ms. Mayawati maintained silence but nominated BSP state president Ram Achal Rajbhar to act as trouble-shooter. “There is no place for selfish people in the BSP,” Mr. Rajbhar said.
Stormy return
A well-known Kanshi Ram loyalist, Mr. Chaudhary served as a Minister in the SP-BSP coalition government but after differences with Ms. Mayawati parted ways with the BSP in 2001 and formed the Rashtriya Swabhimaan Party. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the Pasi and Jatav communities, the two largest Dalit groups in UP, Mr. Chaudhary returned to the BSP just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He contested from the reserved seat Mohanlalganj but stood second.
Mr. Rajbhar said, “Sensing the strong wave in favour of the BSP,” Mr. Chaudhary insisted on fighting MLA elections from Mohanlalganj in 2017 even as he had promised to dedicate time to party organization. “He had shown disinterest after the party denied him a ticket,” Mr. Rajbhar said. Sources said Mr. Chaudhary had made preparations to fight from the seat but the party allotted the ticket to a retired promotee IAS officer, leaving him irked.
Virtually shutting doors for a possible comeback to the BSP before the elections, Mr. Chaudhary said he “made a mistake” by returning to the party in 2013. Meanwhile, Mr. Maurya will hold a meeting with his workers in Lucknow on Friday to decide his next move, even as speculation is rife that he could drift towards the BJP.
