Fissures within BSP’s Karnataka unit deepen following mass resignation of party workers

Mysuru: In the Lok Sabha elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) registered a notable spurt in its vote share in the Chamarajanagar seat, where the organisation has always been a formidable force. However, in the days leading up to the confidence motion that ultimately led to HD Kumaraswamy’s resignation as the chief minister, the fissures within the party came out in the open, and following Kollegal MLA N Mahesh’s expulsion from the party – Mahesh’s absence on the floor of the assembly on the day of the vote was cited as the reason – the fault lines have sharpened in the district. Hundreds of BSP workers have revoked their primary membership of the party, expressing disappointment with the election process to the state committee. Among those who have quit the party are chiefs of local party units in the Old Mysore Region, where the party is the strongest in Karnataka.
The grouse among those who have resigned from the party is that the central leaders of the BSP, here to oversee the elections to the party’s state committee, are unwilling to take the local leaders into confidence. This trust deficit has allegedly prompted the en masse resignation. In fact, senior BSP leaders in Karnataka have accused the observers, here from Delhi, of having mislead the party’s president Mayawati.
BSP’s Mysuru district unit president KN Prabhuswamy said that the observers Ashok Siddarth and ML Tomar had sown the seeds of division in the state unit. “The observers did not even hold the elections they were here to organise. They appointed people to positions of power according to their whims and fancies. As a result, many leaders who have toiled for the party for the past 20 years are very disappointed, and have left the BSP. All presidents of the party’s taluk unit in Mysuru district have resigned,” said Prabhuswamy.
Former minister Mahesh, however, refused to respond to the exodus from his previous party. “I have been expelled from the BSP, and do not want to talk about those who have resigned. I would like to say that resignation is an individual’s prerogative,” Mahesh said.
However, Tomar told TOI that the observers had acted at the behest of the party’s central leadership. “We dissolved all party units, and a new presidents for the BSP Karnataka unit Krishnamurthy, and Marasandra Muniyappa has been appointed the party coordinator. More people will join the party,” said Tomar.
Muniyappa said that Mayawati would constitute new committees. “Besides former minister Mahesh, who was involved in anti-party activities, we have not expelled anyone. I am not worried about people resigning from the party. Ours is a disciplined party,” he said.