BSP’s senior leader and Mayawati’s trusted aide Satish Chandra Mishra has emerged as the thorn in the flesh of the 11 party MLAs who have been sacked by Mayawati over the past two years, with most of them accusing Mishra of creating the differences and misleading her.
The party is on the verge of an implosion and even a possible split after 11 out of the 18 MLAs have been sacked for anti-party activities. Five of these MLAs met Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday in Lucknow but were said to have been advised not to join the SP as it would invite the anti-defection law. They instead have sought tickets from the Samajwadi Party to contest the 2022 UP elections.
At least three of these MLAs whom News18 spoke to said they had no anger or issues with Mayawati but blamed Mishra for creating the gulf of misunderstanding between them and the party chief. “Mayawati only does what Mishra tells her to do. He is destroying the party. The Muslims will abandon the BSP if this arrangement continues,” BSP’s suspended MLA Aslam Ali Rayani said. Other MLAs like Sushma Patel and Hakim Lal Bind also laid the blame for events on Mishra’s door.
Mishra has been a trusted aide of Mayawati over the years and was key behind the strategy of reaching out to Brahmins that brought BSP to power last in 2007. Mishra was also deputed to Punjab to seal the alliance with Akali Dal and was present on the stage with Sukhbir Badal in Chandigarh last week. He is said to have alerted Mayawati when seven of the suspended BSP MLAs had earlier not obeyed the party’s diktat in Rajya Sabha polls and sabotage by senior BSP leaders Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbahr in the recent Panchayat polls.
Mishra’s relations had also strained with senior BSP leaders Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbhar who were dismissed by Mayawati recently for anti-party activities as they were believed to be in touch with other parties. With the exit of likes of Nasimuddin Siddiqui, Brajesh Pathak and Swami Prasad Maurya earlier, Mishra now remains the tallest leader in terms of influence in the BSP. He has never contested an election but remains extremely powerful in BSP.
If the 11 MLAs can get one more MLA in board, they can form their own party and dodge the anti-defection law but that seems difficult as former BSP state chief and dismissed MLA Ram Achal Rajbhar has still reposed faith in Mayawati and said he would wait at least a month for her to change her mind. A few other sacked MLAs are said to be in touch with the BJP, hence not interested in forming a separate party. Senior BSP leader Lalji Verma has also remained silent on the matter.
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