Expelled Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA N. Mahesh insisted on Wednesday that he had not flouted instructions of the party high command when he abstained from voting in Tuesday’s confidence motion.
Stressing that he remained a “loyal party worker”, the Kollegal MLA told a news conference that BSP MP Ashok Siddhartha, who is in charge of the State, had instructed him to remain “neutral” during voting. Explaining his week-long absence, he said he was in Kollegal on personal work and later at a meditation camp in Coimbatore. There was “communication gap” with party seniors as his cell phone was switched off at the camp. Not being familiar with Twitter, he did not see the tweet that announced his expulsion. I will explain the situation to party chief Mayawati, he said.
The BSP, an ally of the Congress-JD(S) coalition, expelled Mr. Mahesh for being absent when the government was voted out in the confidence motion. He was briefly a minister in the same government. He went absent for a week before the vote and on the day of voting.