BSP Suspends 7 Rebel MLAs; Will Even Vote For BJP To Defeat SP Candidate In MLC Polls, Says Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati regretted its alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Lok Sabha polls and stressed that her party will vote for BJP or any party’s candidate to defeat Samajwadi Party.

(Twitter/PTI Photo) (PTI4_19_2019_000039B)

UP By-Elections: It’s interesting to note how the politics in Uttar Pradesh is shaping up in the state with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati criticised the Samajwadi Party on Thursday saying her party will vote for BJP or any party’s candidate to defeat the Akhilesh Yadav-led party in the future MLC elections in the state. Also Read: 'Every Indian Will Get Covid Vaccine, 28000 Points To Monitor Distribution', PM Modi Amid Coronavirus Threat The BSP chief came out strongly against SP saying that BSP should not have formed an alliance with the Samajwadi Party before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Both the parties had joined hands after a gap of almost two decades to contest against the BJP. She said, "When we saw Samajwadi Party's behaviour towards us after Lok Sabha election results, we realised that we have committed a big mistake by taking back our 2nd June 1995 case against them and shouldn't have joined hands with them. We should've thought about it more deeply." The BSP had won 10 of 38 seats it contested, while SP recorded a victory on 5 out of 37 seats. The party chief regretted the decision taken years back, and is now up in arms against the SP. Meanwhile, Mayawati suspended seven rebel legislators of the party on Thursday, who had opposed the nomination of its official candidate Ramji Gautam for the elections to the Rajya Sabha.

7 rebel MLAs suspended by Mayawati

The seven MLAs include Chaudhary Aslam Ali, Hakim Lal Bind, Mohammad Mujtaba Siddiqui, Aslam Raini, Sushma Patel, Hargovind Bhargava, and Bandana Singh. It is assumed that the rebels met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav hinting at changing loyalty for the party. Four of them had also filed an affidavit, saying their signatures on the nomination of the BSP’s national coordinator and Bihar in-charge Ramji Gautam’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections had been “forged”. However, the returning officer accepted Gautam’s nomination as the BSP candidate for the November 9 elections for the 10 seats in the state that are falling vacant. Mayawati’s party had on Monday fielded Ramji Gautam for the Rajya Sabha elections even as it is lacking the requisite number to ensure his victory. The BSP leaders have shown faith in other non-BJP parties assuming the support for his candidature. Altogether, 11 candidates, including eight from the BJP, have filed their papers for the 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh going to the polls in the biennial elections. On the other hand, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra responded to the BSP chief's move on the microblogging site Twitter hinting at the party's support to BJP.

Also Watch|Mayawati suspends 7 rebel MLAs, says will vote BJP to defeat SP