Mayawati snubs Brahmins, to pick Dalits for Rajya Sabha

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati is likely to snub the powerful Brahmin lobby in the party by denying the Rajya Sabha ticket to any member of the caste. She has reportedly made up her mind to field Dalits only for the two seats the party can win on the basis of its assembly strength. Sources said names of party vice-presidents, Raja Ram and Bir Singh, are being considered and the BSP supremo will not repeat Brijesh Pathak and Akhilesh Das whose RS term are expiring next month.

This was decided at the two meetings – one of party’s core group and other of officer bearers from states — held in Delhi on Thursday.

Raja Ram, who hails from Azamgarh, is a close aide of Mayawati. A few years ago there was even speculation of his being named Mayawati’s successor till latter snubbed him. If Raja Ram gets elected to the Rajya Sabha, he would only be the third BSP leader to reach the Upper House for the third term, the other two being BSP founder Kanshi Ram and Mayawati.

The Brahmin leaders were lobbying for the names of Nakul Dubey and Gopal Narain Mishra. But, sources said, both names were rejected by Mayawati. Dubey was minister in the previous BSP regime, while Mishra served as the chairman of the State Warehousing Corporation.

Bir Singh, a founding member of BSP, comes from Moradabad in west UP, where the party suffered major electoral losses in the Lok Sabha elections. BSP thinktank feels Bir Singh’s candidature will help them to woo back Jatavs, who deserted the party in the parliamentary elections.

Akhilesh Das lobbied hard for another term but Mayawati’s advisors prevailed upon her that party should go back to its core constituents, Dalits, in the run up to 2017 assembly elections.

Source: The Times of India