Maya picks Yadav as BSP face in LS — a firs

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, August 8

BSP national president Mayawati is now trying another social engineering formula to crack mission 2022 in the state.

An indication of this is that she has appointed a former Rajya Sabha MP Munqad Ali as the BSP Uttar Pradesh president, Jaunpur MP Shyam Singh Yadav as the BSP leader in the Lok Sabha and Ambedkar Nagar MP Ritesh Pandey as the deputy leader in the Lok Sabha.

While bringing Brahmins and Muslims closer to the predominantly Dalit supported BSP has been attempted on several occasions, appealing to the Yadav vote bank is a new strategy of Mayawati.

After not getting the desired result by contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi party, Mayawati has left no occasion to hit out at the Samajwadi Party for being an undisciplined party having no hold over its core Yadav vote bank.

Appointing a Yadav as the BSP’s face in the Lok Sabha is a move towards this.

Sources also point out that the appointment of a Muslim as the BSP state president is also Mayawati’s attempt to damage control following the party’s support for the revocation of Article 370.

BSP recently sent 10 MPs to the Lok Sabha and has four sitting MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The party had stunned a section of its voters by supporting the BJP on Article 370.