SP poaches on BSP, rift widens

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party, in an attempt to expand its base, is now targeting the Bahujan Samaj Party which is yet again creating a divide between the two parties.

This development is diluting the possibility of the two parties coming together for a grand alliance before the Lok Sabha elections in the state. In recent weeks, the SP has inducted about a dozen leaders from the BSP. From former minister Hiramani Patel to former legislators, Nirmal Varma, Virendra Varma, Radheylal Rawat, Shyam Sunder Bharti, Madhusudan Sharma, Manish Jaiswal and Asif Jafri.

On Monday, SP, inducted former BSP MP Kamla Rawat and Dharmi Rawat into the party. The ‘unkindest cut’ that SP gave to BSP was the induction of former BSP general secretary Inderjit Saroj. Mr Saroj was one of the tallest leaders in the BSP after Ms Mayawati and his exit recently made the latter admit before her party leaders that there was now a dearth of leaders in her party now. She said that it was because of this that she had to bring her brother Anand Kumar into politics. A senior BSP functionary said, “A number of SP leaders switched over to the BJP and to repair the loss, they are poaching on our leaders. Is this how parties that are planning an alliance behave? It is natural for our leader to be upset with the Samajwadis. We expected Mr Akhilesh Yadav to behave better but he is obviously his father’s son”. Udaiveer Singh, SP spokesperson, however refuted the allegation.