Beni forms own party, will dent SP base

In a jolt that could hit the vote base of the Samajwadi Party, party MP Beni Prasad Verma today broke away and announced the formation of the Samajwadi Kranti Dal.

In a jolt that could hit the vote base of the Samajwadi Party, party MP Beni Prasad Verma today broke away and announced the formation of the Samajwadi Kranti Dal. He, however, did not attack Mulayam Singh Yadav, making it clear that Uttar Pradesh’s Labour Minister Waqar Ahmad Shah was one of the main reasons for his decision to go his own way.

Declaring himself as the party’s president, he said he will put up candidates from 14 seats in Bahraich and Barabanki districts. Prasad said he would himself contest from Dariabad, while Reshma, wife of former Union Minister and BJP leader Arif Mohammad Khan, would be fielded from Bahraich.

Sources said Verma’s decision was an indication of the perceptions within the Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s prospects for returning to power. Verma has a long association with the Samajwadi Party leader, but by distancing himself from Yadav on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh polls, he was trying to rescue his own political base.

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A strong Kurmi leader, he is certain to make a dent in the Samajwadi Party’s vote base. That dent is likely to be in the other-than-Yadav vote. Verma, who has recently been in talks with other political parties on an electoral understanding, could be aiming for informal support from the BJP in the two areas by using Khan.

Prasad, the former Union minister and now MP from Kaiserganj near Lucknow, made it clear that differences with Shah over the distribution of seats had forced his decision. “Mulayam Singh Yadav has bad advisers. The contest for Bahraich and Barabanki has now become a prestige issue for me.” However, he said there was “no legal requirement” for him to resign his Lok Sabha seat now that he had floated his own party. Soon after talking to mediapersons, Verma met Arif Mohammad Khan who has represented Bahraich and is known to be close to BJP president Rajnath Singh.

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