UP BJP banks on SC and OBC leaders imported from other parties for 2017 Assembly polls
Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC leader and a former crony of BSP supremo Mayawati, is expected to join the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of national president Amit Shah on Monday or Tuesday. Salempur's former BSP MP Ramshankar Rajbhar and an important OBC leader from east UP will jump ship soon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh seems to have sidelined its state leadership and is banking on Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Caste (OBC) leaders imported from other parties to take it home in the 2017 Assembly polls.
Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC leader and a former crony of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, is expected to join the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of national president Amit Shah on Monday or Tuesday.
Former MP from Ghosi seat, Chauhan was removed from the party last month after a rumour that he was in touch with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sahsarkaryawah (joint general secretary) Krishna Gopal.
BJP sources told Mail Today that Salempur's former BSP MP Ramshankar Rajbhar and an important OBC leader from east UP will jump ship soon.
"It is no secret that two SC (Dalit) leaders-BSP Rajya Sabha member Jugul Kishore and ex-rural development minister in the Mayawati regime Daddu Prasad-are in touch with Amit Shah. The duo have been suspended. Date of their joining the BJP will be made before the state polls," a senior BJP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Referring to Union Minister for Water Resources Uma Bharati's statement that several Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders are willing to join, the BJP leader added: "Majority of them are OBCs."
He regretted that shifting important leaders or assigning them peripheral jobs has created a vacuum in the state unit.
He said: "OBC leader Kalyan Singh has been sent to Rajasthan as governor. Rajya Sabha member Vinay Katiyar, a known OBC leader, has been kept away from organisational duties. Keshari Nath Tripathi, a Brahmin face, was shifted to West Bengal as governor while Khatri leader Lalji Tandon has been sidelined. We need new people because the existing leadership cannot take the organisation forward."
Meanwhile, Kishore didn't reveal his future plans. He said: "Mayawati expects money from us to let us stay in the BSP while SP's pathetic rule is no secret. The Congress is struggling to survive." But he kept mum when asked about the BJP.
So is the case with Prasad, who has reportedly met RSS leaders of Bundelkhand.
State BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said: "The BJP has been accepted by the people as a better political party. Obviously, leaders of other parties will be attracted to us. I can say that many of them are on their way to the BJP. But a final decision about the new entrants will be taken by our central leadership.