Mayawati expels rebel BSP MLAs ahead of Rajya Sabha elections.
BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday expelled seven party MLAs after they defected to the Samajwadi Party camp. Addressing the media in Lucknow, Mayawati lashed out at the Samajwadi Party and declared that her party will support the ruling BJP candidates in the upcoming Legislative Council elections.
"Any party candidate, who will be dominant over SP's 2nd candidate, will get all BSP MLAs' vote for sure," she said.
Earlier on Wednesday, as many as six BSP MLAs reportedly met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, dropping hints that they may switch sides. According to reports, five of the group of rebels also filed an affidavit wherein the MLAs stated that their signatures on the party candidate Ramji Gautam’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls had been forged. The MLAs who withdrew support are Aslam Rainey, Hakim Lal Bind, Har Govind Bhargava, Mujtaba Siddiqui and Aslam Ali Choudhary. Sushma Patel, another BSP MLA, also met Akhilesh Yadav at his party office.
Lashing out at Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati said that after the BSP and SP signed an electoral pact for the 2019 general elections, Akhilesh Yadav insisted that she should withdraw the 1995 Lucknow guest house case against Mulayam Singh Yadav.
"Our party had joined hands with SP to fight communal forces during Lok Sabha elections. Due to their family in-fighting, they couldn't gain much from 'Gatbandhan' with BSP. They stopped responding to us post-elections and hence, we decided to part ways with them," Mayawati said.
"I want to disclose that when we decided to contest polls with SP for Lok Sabha elections in UP, we worked very hard for it but from day-1 of our coalition SP Chief kept telling S C Mishra that since BSP-SP had joined hands, I should take back my June 1995 case," she said.
Mayawati said that the Samajwadi Party's behaviour towards the BSP after the Lok Sabha election results changed and "we realised that we have committed a big mistake by taking back our 2nd June 1995 case against them".
"We shouldn't have joined hands with them. We should have thought bit deeply," she said.
The BSP has fielded Ramji Gautam for the Rajya Sabha by-election even as the party lacks the required numbers to secure victory. The by-election to 10 Rajya Sabha seats will take place on November 9.
There are 395 MLAs currently and it is necessary to secure votes of around 37 members to win a Rajya Sabha seat from UP. The ruling BJP has 304 members in the Uttar Pradesh assembly. The saffron party is set to win eight to nine seats, and the main opposition Samajwadi Party with 48 MLAs will easily secure only one seat. The BSP has 18 MLAs.
