New Delhi: Manoj Kumar, will be the new 26-year-old national general secretary of the BSP. He lives about 20 km north of Fatehpur, 2 km from the Ganga, in the village Jamrawan.
His name was revealed by BSP chief Mayawati in a list sent to the Election Commission. Political as well as party circles were not the only ones taken by surprise, though few claim to know Mayawati's mind. Equally astonished are Kumar's family members, and the handful among Jamrawan's over 2,000 households who say they know him.
As per report published in The Indian Express, Ram Raj, father of Kumar says, "I am not aware of his new position. He never tells me these things because I will not understand. All I know is that he is with Behenji.”
Kumar was working at Mayawati's home as an odds-job man, says one BSP leader. Another says he was perhaps part of her security. Yet another says he was a typist at the party office. However, it is still not clear how Kumar went from there to the national general secretary post.
Ram Raj says Kumar studied till Class XII at a government school in the village before going to Fatehpur for graduation, where he gave tuitions to cover his expenses. “I had got my house built a long time back with the help of a government scheme. I gave him whatever was required and whatever I could provide,” says the father, adding that he grows enough paddy and wheat to sustain his family.
Raj Bahadur, a neighbour, says they knew of Kumar's association with the BSP but had not heard of his new post or what he did for the party. “But he is very hardworking,” says Bahadur.
A former MP who didn't want to be identified says Kumar is deployed at Mayawati's 3 Thyagaraja Marg, New Delhi, bungalow, and that he attends phone calls.
Ram Avatar Mittal, in-charge of the BSP Uttar Pradesh headquarters in Lucknow, who had hired Kumar in 2011 to work at the office, says he moved to Mayawati's Delhi bungalow in 2013.
“He was good in typing so he was hired to work at the party office here. He is related to the family of Mewalal Gautam so I came to know of him. He is not educated much,” Mittal told The Indian Express over phone.
Mittal adds that it could not be possible that the 26-year-old was the new general secretary as he had “no political experience” and had been just a paid party office employee.
Estranged BSP Rajya Sabh MP Jugul Kishore calls Kumar "a young boy" who attends telephone calls at Mayawati's residence in Delhi, he says she appoints unknowns like the 26 year old to important positions o as to retain control of the party.
“He is not even a party worker. He did jobs like cleaning the state BSP office. He is like Amarnath Bhaskar (another Mayawati personal aide) and Mewalal Gautam,” says Kishore.
