New Delhi: A normally ‘confident’ and ‘uncompromising’ Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is likely to a face tough time handling a possible rebellion as the schedule for Assembly Election comes nearer.
Reports, Tuesday, claimed that Mayawati’s ongoing ‘Operation Clean’ has shown the exit door to at least 25 BSP ministers and about 100 legislators have been denied ticket for a re-election.
Hit with this, several BSP leaders have started expressing their displeasure against Mayawati’s autocratic functioning in public and some of them even deciding to switch sides.
The ‘rebels’ are not only openly questioning denial of tickets to them but have also questioned the validity of disciplinary action taken against them by the party chief.
All this has brought to fore the simmering discontent in the party- something thought ‘impossible’ in the BSP earlier. The BSP leadership is aware that this rebellion will harm the party’s prospects in the polls.
The behavior of expelled ministers and party legislators has shocked BSP coordinators and they have now asked Mayawati to issue a warning to them to toe the party line.
Recently, BSP senior leader Sunil Kumar had to face the wrath of supporters of former minister Shahjil Islam, who was sacked and refused a ticket as well. Islam’s supporters shouted anti-Mayawati slogans at meeting in Bareilly where Kumar was present.
Islam’s supporters also made it clear that they would oppose the BSP nominee and their leader may contest as an independent.
Another sacked minister, Anees Ahmed Khan alias Phul Babu, has also announced his intention to jump in the fray as an independent, compounding the problems for the official BSP nominee in Pilibhit Assembly seat.
In Azamgarh, supporters of small scale industries minister Chandradeo Ram Yadav, who was indicted by the state Lokayukta in corruption cases, fought with the official BSP nominee. They almost came to blows after they learnt that their leader was denied a ticket.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Gorakhpur after Mayawati denied ticket to a legislator. Senior BSP leader from Mathura, Shyam Sunder Sharma, will also contest as an independent after being denied a ticket.
Several BSP legislators and sacked ministers are looking for tickets from other parties. Sacked forest minister Fateh Bahadur Singh met BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Yogi Adityanath in a bid to get a BJP ticket.
Daddan Mishra, who resigned recently after being denied a ticket, joined the BJP on Monday. The BJP is likely to field him from his original constituency in Bhinga, Shravasti district.
BSP Lok Sabha member Dhananajy Singh, who was recently expelled from the party and who is currently in jail, may join the BJP. Singh’s wife is reportedly trying for a BJP ticket from Jaunpur.
BSP MLA from Hardoi, Nitin Agarwal, and his father and BSP Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal, has joined the Samajwadi Party after former was refused a ticket.