Punjab: Dissenting BSP workers give ultimatum to party

JALANDHAR: Dissenting members of Bahujan Samaj Party on Saturday held a ‘workers sammelan’ at Goraya against the party leadership’s stance and pressed for their demand of getting Phillaur seat back from alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal. They also “served an ultimatum” that if their demand was not met by September 1, they would hold a ‘pardafaash’ (expose) rally in the assembly constituency from where state BSP president Jasbir Singh Garhi would contest.
It was first major public meeting of dissenting BSP workers on this scale. Earlier, not only the meetings were small but also the tone was softer. On Saturday, while the speakers did not blame BSP supremo Mayawati for the “wrong distribution” of seats, they also did not spare state president.
Several women workers of the party also participated in the event. Apart from several other old and prominent workers of the area, former state secretary Tirath Rajpura, former Jalandhar (rural) district president Amritsapal Bhonsle, former district co-ordinator Ram Saroop Saroye and former zone in-charge Lal Chand Aujla addressed the meeting. All of them were relieved from their posts recently, after the workers meeting was announced.
It was announced that BSP workers were determined to contest on elephant symbol from Phillaur, “which was best seat of the party in Punjab” and would oppose those who betrayed the mission of party founder Kanshi Ram and joined other parties. They criticized BSP state president Garhi for asking party workers to support a betrayer from Phillaur – a reference to sitting SAD MLA Baldev Singh Khaira who was earlier BSP candidate in 2012 but lost and later he joined Akali Dal and became MLA in 2017.
They also said that state president and state leadership were getting desperate to get those candidates elected from Banga and Adampur seats also who earlier “betrayed” BSP. Like Phillaur, sitting MLAs of Akali Dal from Adampur and Banga were also with BSP earlier and contested elections as its candidates. They said that leaving other strong seats like Sham Chorasi, Garhshankar, Chabbewal and Nakodar to Akali Dal also reflected that party supremo Mayawati was not given correct report.