LUCKNOW: After breaking alliance with the Samajwadi Party soon after the Lok Sabha election results, the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) recent stand on various controversial issues including triple talaq and abrogation of Article 370 in Parliament have sent other two opposition parties into a tizzy.
First, the party decided to abstain from voting over Triple Talaq Bill in Rajya Sabha and then promised open support to abrogation of Art 370 in both houses of Parliament. Moreover, removal of its Amroha MP Danish Ali from the post of party leader in Lok Sabha for taking a stance different from that of the party over Art 370 and also triple talaq is signal enough that BSP now wants to keep other opposition parties at an arm’s length.
As per the BSP sources, Danish Ali was opposed to BSP’s support to abrogation of Art 370 and in case of triple talaq, he wanted the party to vote against the Bill rather than walking out.
After discussing the issues with her party leaders and MPs at a meeting late on Wednesday night and reprimanding the naysayers, Mayawati replaced Danish Ali with her Jaunpur MP Shyam Singh Yadav and appointed Ambedkarnagar MP Ritesh Pandey deputy leader of the party in the lower house of Parliament.
If sources are to be believed, Mayawati even expressed her chagrin over the statement given by one of her MLAs, Malook Nagar of Bijnore, on Unnao rape case recently.
While making organisational changes, the BSP chief has tried to strike a socio-religious balance in her party by appointing her trusted lieutenant and former RS member Munkad Ali as party’s state unit chief. The political punditry believes that the BSP chief took this step to keep her Muslim clout in good humour after removing Danish Ali.
Even appointment of Munkad Ali in UP and Shyam Singh Yadav in Lok Sabha is being linked to her alleged intention to dent SP’s (M-Y) vote base in the upcoming bypolls and 2022 battle of Lucknow.
Mayawati’s change of track over crucial issues in Parliament has come as a surprise both for the SP and Congress in the state. While beleaguered SP was caught napping over Art 370 and failed to take a clear stand, Congress, rudderless in UP, ended up in a sharply divided house.
Samajwadi Party has been going through a rough patch since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Having decimated in the state despite the alliance with the BSP, SP is witnessing an unprecedented depletion of its ranks. Back-to-back resignations by three of its prominent leaders including Neeraj Shekhar, Sunil Nagar and Sanjai Seth from Rajya Sabha and party both was no less a jolt. What is more, the crackdown on stalwart and party MP from Rampur Azam Khan has shaken it further to the core.
Meanwhile, Congress, which used to be led by the Gandhis from the front in the state, also seems in a total disarray with hardly any light at the end of the tunnel.