Ambika Chaudhary, MLC and long-time aide to Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Saturday joined the BSP, saying he was saddened by the way the SP patriarch was treated by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. SP MLAs Ashish Yadav, Rampal Yadav and Ramveer Singh also quit the party after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav refused to give them tickets for the UP Assembly polls. Chaudhary, who joined the BSP in the presence of party chief Mayawati, has been promised a ticket from his Phephna seat in Ballia, which he had lost in the 2012 elections. Describing himself as “close to Mulayam”, Chaudhary said, “The whole state is condemning how Mulayam was treated by Akhilesh and his people. I am also saddened by that.” “The media had been keeping a close watch on the incidents that started from September 13. It was not an internal matter of a party. It was a party which is in power. These events took place at a time when elections were near. If the BJP is not stopped now, there may be bigger problems before the people in 2019. The way a party should have acted to fight communal forces did not happen,” he said. “But the manner in which these developments came to an end. (before the Election Commission) on January 16. only proved that the intention of the tussle was something other than shielding the secular movement and the downtrodden,” Chaudhary added. He said he has resigned from all posts in the SP. Chaudhary said he was grateful to Mayawati for taking him along as “a sepoy in her fight against the communal forces”. “He will be given full respect in the BSP, much more than he was getting in the SP,” Mayawati said. Chaudhary is BSP’s 18th Yadav candidate for the elections. The party had fielded eight Yadavs in the 2012 polls. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary dismissed Chaudhary’s exit as inconsequential. “He has betrayed the trust of Netaji,” he said. Meanwhile, SP Etah MLA Ashish Yadav, who was dropped by Akhilesh in his list, announced on Saturday that he had left SP. On Friday, the SP had announced candidature of former district panchayat chairman Jogendra Singh Yadav in Ashish’s place. Ashish is considered close to Shivpal. SP MLAs Rampal Yadav from Biswan (Sitapur) and Ramveer Singh from Jasrana (Firozabad) also resigned from the party. While Rampal was given a ticket by the Mulayam camp, his name was missing in Akhilesh’s list. “I will contest on the symbol of Lok Dal,” he told The Sunday Express. Ramveer said he is in talks with Lok Dal. Chaudhary’s rebellion has also put pressure on Akhilesh to deal with other Shivpal loyalists, candidates whose seats are yet to be announced. These include three former ministers — Om Prakash Singh, Narad Rai and Shadab Fatima. All three were sacked by Akhilesh. Maya on Shivpal Mayawati did not rule out the possibility of admitting Shivpal Yadav in the BSP. Asked if she would be willing to take Shivpal into her party fold, Mayawati said: “Pehle wo mujhse guzarish toh karein, jab wo mujhse guzarish karenge toh mera faisla kya hoga main tab bataungi (First let him request me, then I will tell you what my decision is).” When asked if Shivpal would follow him to the BSP, Ambika Chaudhary said he would leave the answer to the journalists’ “imagination”.
