Johnson Cherian.
Moments after BJP national president Amit Shah landed in Lucknow for a three-day organisational visit, his opponents in Uttar Pradesh received a jolt – at least three Opposition MLCs resigned, with two of them lavishing praise on the BJP.
While Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh belonged to the Samajwadi Party (SP), the third MLC,Thakur Jaiveer Singh, belonged to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
There were speculations that another SP MLC, Madhukar Jetley, would also be resigning but there has been no official confirmation so far.
The resignations, most likely, will pave the way for the entry of top ministers. including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, into the Legislative Council, as they are mandated to become members of the Assembly or Legislative Council within six months of being appointed a minister.
Mr. Adityanath, his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and a couple of other BJP ministers require to get elected to the Assembly or Council as they are not members of any House.
There are hints that the Opposition rebels could head to the BJP or support it.
Mr. Yashwant Singh made it clear that he was vacating the seat for Mr. Adityanath. “I dedicate this seat to CM Yogiji,” he said.
Mr. Singh, a close aide of Thakur leader Raja Bhaiya, used the nationalism plank to justify abandoning the Samajwadi party. He said he resigned as he was offended by former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s recent comments in the House allegedly gloritying China.
“Since that day I developed a feeling that it would not be morally right for me to continue in the party whose national president called India weak, and does not have desh prem, but love for China,” Mr. Singh said.
Mr. Nawab said he resigned as he was feeling “suffocated” in the SP over the last one year. Criticising the functioning of the party in recent times, he said the SP reflected an arena more than a party with an organisation. “They should not call it the Samajwadi Party but Samajwadi Akhara (people’s wrestling arena),” he said.
Interestingly, Mr. Nawab, a Shia leader, heaped praises on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Adityanath for their sabka saath sabka vikaas pitch and “good work,” respectively. Mr. Nawab also said he had no qualms about joining hands with the BJP if such an offer came.
“If they invite me, then I will go. All options are open,” said Mr. Nawab, who recently foisted a new organisation, the Rashtriya Shia Samaj. He was elected to the Legislative Council for a second term only last year.
Political conspiracy, says Akhilesh
Mr. Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of luring Opposition party MLCs through a “political conspiracy.” He said BJP leaders were afraid of fighting direct elections and were seeking a safer route through the Legislstive Council.
“BJP people can’t muster courage to go to the people. I dare them to go to the people and get elected. But not cheat like you did with the machines [EVM],” Mr. Yadav said at the inauguration of a school in Lucknow.
Mr. Yadav resorted to sarcasm to taunt Mr. Nawab, saying not many days had passed since the Shia leader treated him with sewai on Eid. “Bahut mithi thi sewai. Abhi Eid gaye kitne din guzre,” he asked.
BJP’s “hunger for power” has now transformed into a “lust.”: Mayawati
BSP chief Mayawati also cried foul and charged the BJP with misusing power and state machinery to target Opposition parties and their legislators. She said the BJP’s “hunger for power” had now transformed into a “lust.”
After Goa and Manipur, and most recently in Bihar and Gujarat, the BJP was now trying the same manipulative tactics in Uttar Pradesh through misuse of State agencies like the CBI and the Income Tax department to run a campaign to paint its opponents as corrupt, she alleged.
She urged Opposition party legislators to not surrender before the BJP but resist its “dictatorial, arrogant and oppressive” stance.
“Instead of kneeling before the BJP, they should have have fought back against the terror and oppression of the BJP government,” she said adding that “If you don’t fight back, the BJP will get emboldened as they have now tasted blood.”
