National
How BSP’s vote bank got demolished by bureaucrats once close to Mayawati
Lucknow, May 31 (IANS) Political parties are made or marred by the decisions taken by their leaders but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), in Uttar Pradesh, is an exception.
This is one party that thrived on its loyal band of bureaucrats and also lost its vote bank as the bureaucrats began moving away from the BSP.
BSP President Mayawati, as chief minister, was always lucky to have a loyal and dedicated band of bureaucrats to help her steer through the turbulent waters of Uttar Pradesh politics.
The bureaucrats, mainly Dalits, showed unflinching loyalty towards her and were a major reason for her success as a chief minister.
When she first took oath as chief minister, she was a complete novice when it came to administration and running the government.
It was then Rai Singh, an IAS officer known to be close to Kanshi Ram, who took charge and even guided her through the swearing in ceremony.
However, within weeks, Mayawati allegedly became suspicious of his style of functioning and showed Rai Singh the door.
He was replaced with PL Punia who guided the chief minister through all administrative and political decisions.
Over time, PL Punia earned the sobriquet of ‘mini chief minister’ and since Mayawati did not meet her party cadres, it was left to him to deal with them and address their problems.
Mayawati, as chief minister, never opened her doors for anyone – whether it was bureaucrats, party leaders or the media.
It was PL Punia who sorted out issues with other officers, listened to grievances of party leaders and workers and even wooed the media that was initially very hostile towards Mayawati.
Seeing PL Punia, other bureaucrats posted in Mayawati’s Secretariat also began adopting a similar style of functioning.
This suited the BSP President because she did not wish to be bothered with ‘smaller problems’. The people too, were satisfied because the bureaucrats solved their problem.
However, gradually, the loyalty of BSP cadres veered towards bureaucrats who addressed their problems and it is here that the problem began in the BSP.
PL Punia left Mayawati after the Taj Corridor controversy and later joined the Congress.
Brijlal, former Special DG in Uttar Pradesh, was another Mayawati favourite who left her.
An upright IPS officer, he was known to tackle the law-and-order situation with an iron hand. However, he was apparently eased out of her coterie and has now joined the BJP.
Brijlal is now Rajya Sabha MP and also the Dalit face of the BJP in UP.
Dalits who came to him to sort out their issues when he was in the BSP, now meet him when he is in the BJP.
“He still helps us and that is what matters to us. BSP has nothing left for us. We will go with those who still interact with us,” says Ramraj Prasad of Siddhartha Nagar.
According to a retired IAS officer, once known to be in Mayawati’s good books, “She is now completely under the influence of non-Dalit leaders and this has been her undoing. She refuses to entertain Dalit leaders and this is evident from the exodus of senior leaders from the party. It is a matter of time before the BSP completely disintegrates.”
Almost all these bureaucrats – now retired — are moving away from the BSP and have no qualms in criticising her style of function and deviated from Kanshi Ram’s ideology.
Retired IAS officer Kunwar Fateh Bahadur, who served as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister in the Mayawati regime and was one of the most powerful officers in her regime, had questioned her decision to send leaders to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from the Brahmin community.
He has now joined Samajwadi Party and sources close to the former IAS officer said that he was ‘pained’ to see Kanshi Ram’s party move away from his ideology.
As these bureaucrats moved away from the BSP, party cadres also moved out with them.
“Since these people come to us, it is our moral duty to help them and we do so,” said another former IAS officer.
Tribhuvan Ram, a former Chief Engineer in the PWD, had taken voluntary retirement in 2011 to join the BSP. He was elected to the Vidhan Sabha twice but later joined the BJP.
Former bureaucrats like Ram Bahadur and Shri Krishna who were known to be trusted babus in the Mayawati regimes, have now moved away from the BSP President.
Padam Singh, Mayawati’s Personal Security Officer, was known to be the man she trusted most. He was known as her shadow and she trusted him more than any of her party leaders and officers.
However, he fell out of favour for reasons not known and is now in the BJP.
Jatavs, supposedly the core BSP voters, are also in a quandary about the BSP’s future.
A generation of Jatavs, the caste BSP chief Mayawati herself comes from, had once been part of the Bahujan movement and are sworn loyalists of the party.
A weakened BSP, however, has resulted in most Jatav voters feeling let down.
Jatavs in many areas believe that the selection of wrong candidates in elections and Mayawati’s “muted” campaign may have done the party in.
The voices of dissent among the community in Uttar Pradesh are no longer few and far between.
Mayawati’s absenteeism from “active” politics is also haunting Jatavs.
“Woh kabhi aayein, hum logon se milen. Ek rally se kya hota hai? (She should come at times and meet us. One rally doesn’t achieve anything),” said Umakant, a Jatav in Kajitola locality of Kannauj.
In Jahta, a Dalit-dominated village in Malihabad, on the outskirts of Lucknow, discontent among the BSP cadre is obvious.
“What candidates Behenji has fielded this time baffles me. I cannot recall most of these names, though I am a party worker myself. Jo party ka kaam kare, ticket usko dena chahiye (They should give tickets to people who work for the party),” said a local party functionary.
Malihabad is the Assembly segment under the Mohanlalganj LS seat.
In fact, Azad Samaj Party’s Chandrashekhar Azad resonates more with the voters in Jatav-dominated villages in the constituency than Mayawati’s nephew, Akash Anand, who has been removed from all party posts.
Mayawati’s “disconnect” with the Jatav population is quite pronounced in many regions.
“We know she is a very big leader and cannot come to meet us on any ordinary day, but election is the time for it,” said Babulal, a resident of Gopramau Village.
Since 2016, the BSP has seen a mass exodus of top brass who were either from the foundational stream of the party or formed a strong second line in the hierarchy.
Many of them either quit or Mayawati expelled them. As a result, the party presently lacks any other Dalit face than Mayawati whose campaign many Jatavs find “confusing” as compared to other parties in the fray.
–IANS
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Bhopal, July 3 (IANS) The Mohan Yadav-led Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday presented its first budget with an outlay of Rs 3.65 lakh crore for the financial year 2024-25 during the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Assembly.
Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Jagdish Devda presented the Annual Budget in the Assembly amid relentless sloganeering by the Opposition.
The budget made it clear that the old public beneficiary schemes like ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ introduced during the previous (ex-CM) Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government would continue.
The government has proposed a budget of Rs 26,560 crore.
Women who used to receive monetary assistance of Rs 1,250 per month would continue to receive a similar amount.
The Mohan Yadav-led government has allocated Rs 10,000 crore for the development of expressways, including Atal Pragati Path, Narmada Pragati Path, Vindhya Expressway, Malwa-Nimad Vikas Path, Bundelkhand Vikas Path and Madhya Bharat Vikas Path.
The government has set aside Rs 11,292 crore for the Home Department, while the Education and Health departments got Rs 22,600 crore and 21,144 crore, respectively.
The state government plans to recruit over 75,000 youth in the Madhya Pradesh Police this financial year.
The government would set up three medical universities in the state.
Besides, a provision of Rs 26,560 crore has been made for the women and child development department for 2024-25, which is 81 per cent more than the Budget Estimate of the year 2023-24, Finance Minister Devda said while presenting the Budget.
The minister said the state government has also made a provision of Rs 500 crore for ‘Simhastha’ to be held in 2028. This will lead to development work in Ujjain and 10 surrounding districts.
‘CM Rise Schools’, another project launched by former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was given Rs 667 crore. The project is aimed at improving education standards in Madhya Pradesh and more than 900 schools are proposed to be open.
Commenting on the first annual budget of his government, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said: “This budget will take the state forward. The overall development will take place and the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeing MP as a developed state will be accomplished.”
The Opposition, however, said that before the Assembly elections, BJP had given many guarantees to residents of Madhya Pradesh but not a single one had been included in this budget.
–IANS
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Srinagar, July 3 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday issued a notice to incarcerated Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid over disparity in his poll expenditure statement.
Rashid, who is lodged in jail since 2019 after being charged by the NIA in a terror-funding case, defeated former J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat as an Independent candidate by over 2 lakh votes in the recent elections.
The ECI notice was served by the deputy district election officer in Baramulla, highlighting the expenditure register submitted by Rashid which showed Rs 2.10 lakh while the actual amount recorded in the shadow register maintained by observers shows Rs 13.78 lakh.
The notice directed Rashid or his representative to appear before the district expenditure monitoring committee within two days to address the discrepancy and ensure timely submission of the expenditure report to the ECI.
The notice said that failure to comply with election expense reporting requirements could lead to disqualification under the Representation of the People Act, 1951, for a period of three years.
Doubts had been raised during the Lok Sabha elections as to how Rashid’s liabilities were reduced significantly while his assets increased over the past five years despite being lodged in jail.
According to the 2024 poll affidavit, the former MLA’s assets were valued at Rs 1.55, crore compared to Rs 80 lakh in 2019, including a 41,072 sq ft non-agriculture land in his hometown Langate and a house in Srinagar worth Rs 90 lakh.
A science graduate with a diploma in civil engineering, Rashid also declared Rs 11.31 lakh home loan and Rs 3.11 lakh Kisan Credit Card loan as liabilities.
Five years back, he had declared a residential house in the posh Jawahar Nagar locality in Srinagar purchased in 2017 as his only asset, and also stated that he had a liability of Rs 60 lakh towards a home loan from a bank.
Rashid, who won the Assembly polls from Langate in Kupwara district in 2008 and 2014, is presently lodged in Tihar jail in connection with a case being probed by the NIA alleging his involvement in money laundering linked to terror funding.
The Patiala House Court in Delhi has granted him parole for two hours on July 5 for taking oath as a Member of Parliament.
–IANS
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Mumbai, July 3 (IANS) Top Congress leaders on Wednesday gave a call for the ouster of Maharashtra’s MahaYuti government and a return of the Maha Vikas Aghadi regime in the October Assembly elections.
AICC General Secretary Ramesh Chennithala and state unit President Nana Patole said that Congress is a party which takes along all sections of society because of which the MVA notched a resounding victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, bagging 31 of the 48 seats in the state.
“Even in the upcoming October Assembly polls, we will make all efforts to ensure that all sections of society get proper representation. All party workers must work with the same zeal right from the taluka level to the polling booth levels and ensure the corrupt MahaYuti regime is weeded out,” Chennithala said.
Patole said that though the LS elections are over, the political struggle continues with the next target being the Assembly polls for which all must work unitedly and hoist the victory flag over the Mantralaya.
“Various special cells and departments of the state Congress played a commendable role in the party’s huge victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Our activists went door-to-door in all villages to spread the Congress’ message of 5 Nyays and 25 Guarantees which created a huge impact and led to the success,” he added.
Chennithala and Patole were accorded a grand felicitation at a function held by the state Congress in Mumbai where speakers lauded their leadership role that helped reap a rich harvest of seats for the MVA in the LS polls.
They also slammed various policies of the MahaYuti of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party, and how they spin fake narratives, make false promises, and failed to implement them, leaving the masses high and dry without taking any responsibility, while dividing the society.
The Congress SC-ST-OBC and Minority Department’s National Coordinator K. Raju, SC Department chief Rajesh Lilhotia, state Minority Department chief Wajahat Mirza, besides Pragya Waghmare, Nana Gawande, Pramod More, Pratibha Shinde, and others were present and honoured for the party work in the elections.
–IANS
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New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has amended parliamentary rules to restrict newly elected MPs from using any additional words or remarks before or after taking the oath or affirmation of membership.
The Speaker has made an amendment to Rule 389 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (Seventeenth Edition).
According to the amendment, a “member shall make and subscribe oath or affirmation, as the case may be, in accordance with the form set out for the purpose, in the Third Schedule to the Constitution of India and shall not use any word or expression or make any remark as a prefix or suffix to the form of oath or affirmation.”
The amendment comes amid controversy over some MPs raising slogans like “Jai Palestine”, “Jai Hindu Rashtra” while taking oath.
Recently, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi raised slogans of ‘Jai Bhim, Jai Mim, Jai Telangana and ‘Jai Palestine’ in the House after taking oath as an MP. Apart from Owaisi, some other MPs were also seen raising slogans before or after taking oath.
–IANS
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Bengaluru, July 4 (IANS) The police in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district have registered a case against four persons who have been accused of harassing a couple while they were spending time together, an official said on Wednesday.
The incident happened at the Tunga Reservoir on Tuesday.
According to police sources, the couple, who are in a relationship, had gone to the reservoir along with their common friend.
When they were spending time talking to each other, a group of four local youths approached them.
The youths had misbehaved with the couple and assaulted the woman’s boyfriend and his friend.
They also asked both to leave the place and leave the girl behind. Eventually, the police were informed, following which a team rushed to the spot and rescued the young woman.
The police have registered a case of kidnapping against the accused youths.
–IANS
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Mohan Yadav-led MP govt presents its maiden budget of Rs 3.65 lakh crore- Election Commission sends notice to Engineer Rashid on poll expenditure
- Maha Congress calls for all efforts for return of MVA in October Assembly elections
- LS Speaker changes rule to bar MPs from any additional remarks during oath
- Moral policing: Couple harassed in K'taka; police register case
- J&K DGP highlights improved security scenario in UT
- Flood situation deteriorates in Assam; death toll rises to 46, over 16L affected
- No scams have happened under Congress government, asserts Shivakumar
- Odisha: Ex-BJP legislator Aditya Madhi dead; CM Majhi expresses grief
- Three absconding masterminds of paper leak cases in Rajasthan arrested
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