“This time, it is the cycle symbol” — both Ram Achal Rajbhar and Lalji Verma, who are five-time MLAs from their respective seats in Ambedkar Nagar district, are seen telling voters.
This is required as both these leaders were key lieutenants for BSP supremo Mayawati for nearly three decades before she expelled them last year. Akhilesh Yadav got them on board and is now threatening to snatch the Ambedkar Nagar district from the BSP, a bastion for the party which was in fact created and named Ambedkar Nagar by Mayawati when she was chief minister. In fact, Mayawati went to Lok Sabha after winning from here.
But both leaders told News18 that they joined SP as it is the only party which can defeat the BJP in UP. “I was with BSP for 38 years, I gave all my youth to the BSP but I was expelled by Mayawati without giving me even a minute to explain my side,” Ram Achal Rajbhar tells us in Baluva Bariharpur village in his constituency, Akbarpur. He was a founding member of BSP, its former UP president and national general secretary.
Former minister Lalji Verma, while campaigning in Tilehri village in the neighbouring seat of Kathehri, told News18 that he worked with “full dedication for Mayawati” but some people did fake complaints against him and Ram Achal Rajbhar and they were expelled from the BSP.
Ram Achal Rajbhar in Baluva Bariharpur village in his constituency, Akbarpur. (Photo: Aman Sharma/News18)
“BSP’s old cadre leaders have all been expelled. It seems Mayawati herself does not want to run the party,” Rajbhar told News18.
They are in fact not the only BSP rebels in Ambedkar Nagar district. BSP’s former MP and minister, Tribhuvan Dutt, is contesting from SP in the Alapur seat while Rakesh Pandey, the father of BSP MP Ritesh Pandey, is contesting on an SP ticket from Jalalpur. “BSP is not in any fight and only SP can be the alternative to BJP. All five seats in the Ambedkarnagar district will be won by SP now,” Lalji Verma told News18.
Former minister Lalji Verma campaigns in Tilehri village. (Photo: Aman Sharma/News18)
Amit Shah’s Statement
Home Minister Amit Shah in an interview to News18 earlier this week said BSP was still relevant in the state and will get Jatav and Muslim votes. “Amit Shah’s statement proves that BSP is not in the fight and is the B-Team of the BJP,” Verma counters. Ram Achal Rajbhar told News18 that Amit Shah said so to mislead people as all communities are voting for SP.
So will SP manage to breach the BSP den here with these moves? “Today, only Satish Chandra Mishra is seen in the BSP. Backward, Dalit and Muslim top leaders are not with BSP. BSP slogan has changed — earlier it was jiski jitni sankhya bhari, uski utni hissedari. Now the slogan is – jiski jitni taiyarri, utni uski hissedari. Hence Dalit and backwards, who are not prepared, have got sidelined,” Lalji Verma says.
He claims BJP had reached out to him and Rajbhar but both realised that BJP was doing “politics of hate” and so they joined the SP. “Only bulldozer ran in Yogi government. There was no relief to people… see the high electricity prices and inflation,” Verma says. Rajbhar says people told him to go to SP after a huge rally in November where Akhilesh Yadav was the chief guest. “Four days ago, Mayawati was here. In a big ground in Akbarpur, where she had given Ambedkarnagar district name in presence of thousands, it was a flop show this time though she called 29 candidates to that ground,” he says.
Both leaders now say Mayawati must be realising her mistake to expel them from the party. “SP has done alliance with smaller parties to form a formidable combination. People are upset with stray cattle issue,” Rajbhar says. He also takes on the prime minister for saying terrorists put bombs on SP’s symbol, the cycle: “That comment did not befit the stature of a PM as he is on a constitutional post. He is everyone’s PM.”
Ambedkar Nagar is a bellwether district as in 2007, BSP won all five seats and formed the government in UP while in 2012, SP won all five seats and formed the government. In 2017, BJP sneaked in with two wins here and BSP got three.
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