Defection effect: BSP starts identifying possible turncoats

The other two are Putu Awasthi and his son Ashutosh Awasthi. Ashutosh had contested Assembly elections as BSP Nominee from Haidergarh (Barabanki) and subsequently lost in the 2007 elections. His father Puttu formally joined the BSP during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and became the party’s candidate from Kaiserganj. However,Puttu lost the LS election.

Insiders in the BSP said three leaders — both the father-son duo and Siddqui — were expelled from the party in view of reports of them planning to join either the Congress or the SP.

While Fakir refused to disclose his plans,Puttu confirmed that he was in touch with Congress. “Though I contested the LS election as BSP nominee,I have not attended any BSP meeting after my defeat in 2009. I am currently bedridden,” Puttu told The Indian Express over the phone.

Puttu claimed he was not ready to contest the LS elections from Kaiserganj. Puttu is head of a prominent Awasthi family of Barabanki and had spent his days in both the Congress and BJP. It was he who had resigned from his Haidergarh seat to enable then CM Rajnath Singh to enter the Assembly.

Fakir is still not sure whether to join the Congress or SP. “I will first consult my supporters and then take a decision,” he said.

Shankari Singh’s expulsion from the BSP is a different case. “The BSP leadership wants to field a Yadav candidate from the Sarojini Nagar seat and so he was expelled,” a source said. When contacted,Shankari refused to talk about the issue.

Meanwhile,reports reaching here from Hardoi said the BSP has changed its district president. The Mallawan seat represented by defector MLA Krishna Kumar alias Satish Verma falls in Hardoi district. “The party has appointed one Shiv Dutt as Hardoi district president in place of Sharavan Gautam,” a source said.

The source said the party has almost decided to select one Brijesh Verma as its nominee for the Mallawan seat. In Ambedkar Nagar,the party has decided to field MP Rakesh Pandey’s son Ritesh Pandey from the Jalalpur seat against SP nominee Sher Bahadur Singh who recently defected from the BSP.