BSP gets new UP chief, fourth in as many years

The organisational change comes nine months after the party registered its worst show in the UP Assembly elections, winning just one seat.

Bhim Rajbhar, who contested from his hometown Mau, finished third as Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) candidate Abbas Ansari won with support of the Samajwadi Party. Abbas’s father Mukhtar Ansari, a jailed strongman-politician, was elected MLA from the constituency on a BSP ticket in 2017.

Before this, Pal (48) was the party in-charge for the Ayodhya division. He has never contested any Assembly or parliamentary election.

Party sources said Mayawati had directed Pal to focus on the “most backward castes”, which are mostly concentrated in eastern and central UP.

Taking to Twitter, Mayawati said Pal was an “old-timer, a missionary, hardworking and loyal worker” of the BSP. “I am confident that he will achieve success in expanding the party’s base by connecting most-backward castes with the party,” Mayawati tweeted.

She also praised the work of Bhim Rajbhar as the state unit president.

A senior party leader said, “This is the first major change in the state’s organisation after the loss in the Assembly elections.”

At a party meeting this March, days after the Assembly poll results were announced, Mayawati appointed three state coordinators to collectively tour all 18 divisions of the state and ensure that her directions were implemented on the ground and submit a report to her monthly.

In that meeting, Mayawati announced that there would be no change in the state party presidentship and that Rajbhar would continue in the post.

Bhim Rajbhar was appointed to the post in November 2020, replacing former MP Munquad Ali who took charge in August 2019.