As Ritesh Pandey joins BJP, Mayawati to her MPs: ‘Introspect whether you took care of your area’

“For a long time, I have not been called to (BSP) party meetings and the party leadership is also not communicating with me. I made numerous efforts to contact and meet you and other top office bearers but got no results. During this time, I continuously met the public and workers and continued working in the constituency. I have reached a conclusion that the party does not need my service and presence anymore,” Pandey wrote in his resignation letter.

Stating that he stepped into public life through the BSP which allowed him to represent the party in Lok Sabha as well as the UP Assembly, Pandey wrote he was left with no option except to resign from the primary membership of the BSP.

Ritesh Pandey’s letter to BSP supremo Mayawati

Soon after Pandey’s resignation, BSP president Mayawati asked her party MPs to introspect whether they followed the guidelines given to them in the interest of the party. “Along with the BSP political party, there is also a movement dedicated to the mission of self-respect of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar due to which the policy and working style of this party is different from the capitalist parties of the country. Keeping this in mind, the party also fields its candidates in the elections,” Mayawati said in a series of posts on ‘X’ in Hindi.

“After meeting this criterion, the BSP MPs must introspect whether they took proper care of the people in their area. Did they devote full time in their area? Also, did they properly follow the guidelines given from time to time in the interest of the party and the movement?” she said.

The BSP chief further said, “In such a situation, is it possible to give tickets to most of the Lok Sabha MPs, especially when they are seen wandering here and there in their own interests and are in the news for negative reasons. It is unfair for the media to publicise this as a weakness of the party despite knowing all this. The interest of the BSP is above all,” she said, dropping hints that she may deny tickets to several BSP MPs.

After joining the BJP in the presence of UP in-charge Baijayant Jay Panda, national general secretary Tarun Chugh, UP president Bhupendra Singh, party’s national media in-charge Anil Baluni, and UP Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, Pandey, a Brahmin leader, said that he would work hard to ensure that the NDA wins more than 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

He said that despite being a member of the Opposition party, his requests for development projects in his constituency Ambedkar Nagar were accepted by the BJP government at the Centre and UP.

“I have come forward to work and contribute to Prime Minister Modi’s vision for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ under his leadership… I want to thank (BJP national president) Nadda Ji for giving me a place in this family. I would also like to thank the home minister of the country who guided me throughout this journey,” he said.

BJP sources said the party may field Pandey from Ambedkar Nagar in the Lok Sabha polls.