Mayawati’s ex-aides, BSP founder members: SP line-up stacked with former rivals
Most of these SP candidates belong to non-Yadav OBC groups among whom the party is trying to establish its presence.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav campaigning in Meerut for party's candidate Sunita Verma. (Photo: Akhilesh Yadav/ X) Of the 57 Lok Sabha candidates the Samajwadi Party (SP) has announced so far, at least 14 are from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Among them are former close aides of party chief and former Uttar Pradesh CM Mayawati such as Babu Singh Kushwaha and Lalji Verma.
The SP, which is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in alliance with the Congress, will contest 62 of UP’s 80 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress will contest 17 seats and one has been left for the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
“The BSP has a good sway among the backward and Dalit communities. With the BSP weakening in the state, their leaders wanted to join us as we are a party most likely to defeat the BJP. We took them on board as we are trying to expand our footprint among the Dalit and non-Yadav OBC communities,” said an SP leader.
Most of these SP leaders who shifted from the BSP belong to the non-Yadav Other Backward Class (OBC) communities among whom the SP has been trying to establish its presence.
Babu Singh Kushwaha (Jaunpur): He served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the Mayawati Cabinet from 2007 to 2012. In 2011, he was expelled from the party over his alleged involvement in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.
Kushwaha, who hails from the Kushwaha OBC community, joined the BJP a year later but was expelled from the party. In 2016, he floated the Jan Adhikar Party.
In 2017, he was named in the CBI chargesheet in the NRHM scam that accused him of causing a loss of Rs 21.2 crore to the government. His JAP contested 40 seats in the 2022 UP Assembly elections in alliance with Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM and other smaller parties as a part of the Bhagidari Parivartan but failed to win anything. Kushwaha is in alliance with the SP this time and is contesting on its symbol.
Lalji Verma (Ambedkar Nagar): He was among the BSP top brass when he was expelled from the party in 2021 for “anti-party activities” during the panchayat elections. Verma, who belongs to the Kurmi OBC community, has been a minister in BSP governments and joined the SP in November 2021. He won the Katehari Assembly seat in 2022 on an SP symbol.
Narayan Das Ahirwar (Jalaun): A close aide of BSP leader Kanshi Ram, he was among the founder members of the BSP. A member of Mayawati’s Cabinet in 2007, Ahirwar, who is OBC, was expelled from the party in 2010. He joined the SP in 2022.
R K Chaudhary (Mohanlalganj): Another founder member of the BSP and a confidant of Kanshi Ram, Chaudhary is a four-time MLA and was a minister in the SP-BSP government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav from 1993 to 1995.
Chaudhary, who belongs to the Pasi Scheduled Caste (SC) community, quit the BSP in 2001 and floated the Rashtriya Swabhimaan Party. Ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he returned to the party and contested from Mohanlalganj, losing to the BJP’s Kaushal Kishore. He joined the SP in 2017.
Raja Ram Pal (Akbarpur): He was elected BSP MP from Bihaur in 2004 but quit the party a year later and joined the Congress. Pal, who hails from the Pal OBC community, won the 2009 Lok Sabha elections as a Congress candidate from Akbarpur. He unsuccessfully contested the seat in 2014 and 2019. He joined the SP in 2021.
Ramesh Gautam (Bahraich): Gautam, who belongs to the Pasi SC community, joined the BSP in 1989. He unsuccessfully contested the 2017 state polls from Mankapur. He joined the SP in 2020.
Ram Shiromani Verma (Shrawasti): He is the sitting MP and recently joined the SP. In 2019, when the SP and BSP were in alliance, Verma, who hails from the Kurmi community, won the seat as a BSP candidate, defeating BJP’s Daddan Mishra by more than 5,000 votes.
Bhima Shankar “Kushal” (Domariyaganj): Kushal, a Brahmin, began his career with the BJP. As a BSP candidate, he won the Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat in a 2008 bypoll and then in 2009 but lost in 2014 and 2019 to the BJP’s Jagadambika Pal. He is the son of gangster-turned-politician Hari Shankar Tiwari, who died last year. He joined the SP in 2021.
Ram Prasad Chaudhary (Basti): A five-time MLA from Kaptanganj who served as a minister in the Mayawati government in 1997, Chaudhary was first elected as an MP on a Janata Dal ticket in 1989. He is from the Kurmi community and unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for the BSP. The party expelled him later that year and he joined the SP in 2020.
Rama Shankar Rajbhar (Salempur): He was elected as Salempur MP on a BSP ticket in 2009 after unsuccessfully contesting the polls five years earlier. Rajbhar, who belongs to the OBC Rajbhar community, was denied a ticket in 2014 and was expelled from the party. He joined the SP in 2017.
Afzal Ansari (Ghazipur): He was first elected MP from Ghazipur in 2004 as an SP candidate. Five years later, he contested the seat as a BSP candidate and lost. In 2019, he was elected MP from the seat on a BSP ticket. Ansari has been elected MLA four times on a CPI ticket. He quit the BSP to join the SP in February.
Sunita Verma (Meerut): Elected Meerut mayor on a BSP ticket in 2017, the BSP expelled Verma in November 2019 and she joined the SP in January 2021. Verma hails from the SC Jatav community.
Amarnath Maurya (Phulpur): He was an active BSP leader since the 1990s and unsuccessfully contested the Allahabad West Assembly constituency in 2002 against don-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed. Maurya, who is from the OBC Maurya community, later quit the BSP and joined the BJP in 2016 and moved to the SP in 2022.
Neeraj Maurya (Aonla): He is a former two-time BSP MLA from Jalalabad. Maurya, who is from the Maurya community, quit the BSP in 2017 and joined the BJP. In 2022, he switched to the SP.
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