Lucknow Asserting that her party MPs and MLAs/MLCs with tainted past have “reformed” themselves after joining the BSP, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati assured on Monday that they would not be expelled from the party. The chief minister also announced that tickets would be given to all her party’s sitting MLAs in the 2012 Assembly elections.
According to a BSP press release, the CM said such BSP MLAs who are being targeted by Opposition parties on grounds of their alleged criminal past have not done any wrong during her tenure and, therefore, there is no reason for taking action against them.
The release said that by ensuring party tickets to all sitting MLAs, the CM has put an end to all speculation raised by Opposition parties who often made provocative statements against the ‘tainted’ legislators.
It seems the MLAs were falsely implicated in criminal cases as part of political conspiracy in the past, the CM said in the release.
Mayawati, however, maintained the clean-up drive would continue against criminal elements injected into the BSP by Opposition parties.
The BSP had earlier undertaken a drive against criminal elements within her party and the chief minister had announced the expulsion of about 500 party leaders with criminal past, though their names were not disclosed.
Mayawati, meanwhile, has called a meeting of her party MPs today to announce the names of seven candidates the party will field in the biennial polls to 11 Rajya Sabha seats, besides eight other candidates who will contest biennial polls to 13 Legislative Council seats. The terms of 13 members of the State Legislative Council, including Chief Minister Mayawati’s, would end on July 6, and the BSP chief has once again decided to enter the fray for UP’s Upper House.
Elated with the CM’s assurance of giving tickets to all sitting legislators, a BSP MLA said: “She told us that BSP MLAs with tainted past have not done anything wrong or illegal during her current tenure.” Eleven members from the state, including BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra and treasurer Ambeth Rajan, would retire from the Rajya Sabha on July 4. Mishra and Rajan have both been given BSP tickets to contest for a second consecutive term in the Rajya Sabha. The other five BSP candidates are Yugal Kishore, Mohammed Salim Ansari, Narendra Kumar Kashyap, Rajpal Saini and S P Singh Baghel.
While MLC Yugul Kishore is BSP coordinator, Salim Ansari is a BSP old horse and has been active in eastern UP. “Salim Ansari contested Assembly polls against Mukhtar Ansari from Mau in 2002. In 2007, Behenji had not given him a ticket from Mau,” said a BSP source, adding Salim has been rewarded with the party ticket for the “honesty” with which he has served the party.
“He would be BSP’s face against the Ansari brothers in eastern UP,” said the source. S P Singh Baghel, a former MP, had joined the BSP at the time of the trust vote over the N-deal issue in Parliament. He was fielded as BSP candidate in the bypolls to Firozabad seat. The biennial polls to the eleven Rajya Sabha seats, if required, would be held on June 17.
Besides Mayawati, the BSP has fielded seven candidates for the biennial polls to the 11 Council seats. They are Rishipal Gautam, Satish Chandra Jatav, Ramkumar Kuril, Atahar Khan, Subodh Kumar Parashar, Lalchand Nishad and Virendra Kumar Chauhan.
Mayawati introduced all the selected candidates to her party MLAs at the meeting today.
“She requested us to cast our votes honestly and warned us against cross voting,” a BSP MLA said, adding the party chief has asked her workers to gear up for the 2012 Assembly polls.
