BSP Supremo Mayawati. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav)
BSP CHIEF Mayawati on Tuesday named party’s former MLA, Bhimrao Ambedkar as the nominee for the March 23 Rajya Sabha elections. This comes two days after Mayawati said that while SP will give its additional votes to BSP in the Rajya Sabha polls, the BSP, in turn, will transfer its votes to the SP candidate in the upcoming state Legislative Council elections. With MLAs voting in these elections, she had said that the exchange of votes will defeat the extra candidate that BJP will field in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Ambedkar, a Dalit, belongs to Etawah district — the home district of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. He has been associated with BSP since the time of party founder Kanshi Ram.
Party insiders said that at a meeting with MLAs in Lucknow, where Ambedkar’s candidature was announced, Mayawati said that Congress has agreed to support the BSP nominee in Rajya Sabha elections. “Mayawati had put forward a condition that BSP will support the Congress candidate in Rajya Sabha elections in Madhya Pradesh only if its MLAs supported the BSP nominee in UP,” said a leader who did not wish to be named. Congress has seven MLAs in the UP Assembly.
Mayawati, a former UP CM, had resigned from Rajya Sabha in July last year, after claiming that she was not being allowed to speak on alleged atrocities faced by Dalits under the NDA government.
Later in a statement, the BSP chief said that while party leaders had requested her to nominate herself, she has decided to name another dedicated BSP worker. Terming her decision as “missionary”, she claimed that the decision has been praised and welcomed at every level. Mayawati said that there were rumours in a section of media that she could nominate herself or her brother. But, she added, that by declaring Ambedkar as the candidate, she has re-affirmed that nepotism has no place in BSP.
Maintaining that BSP will not promote dynasty politics, Mayawati said in the statement that while relatives of BSP leaders could make contributions in strengthening the party base, they would never be made MPs, MLAs and ministers against the ideologies of the party. She added that following the same ideology, her brother — BSP vice-president Anand Kumar — has not been sent to the Parliament and there is no point to send him to the Assembly. He will never be made MP, MLA and minister, she added.
Meanwhile, at the meeting, Mayawati reportedly told MLAs that BSP and SP’s strategy could defeat BJP’s politics. She also clarified that an understanding between SP and BSP should not be considered as a tie-up for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, said sources.
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