Ex-Uttar Pradesh State Chief Slams Turncoats After Six Rebels Join Samajwadi Party Ahead of Polls

The assembly elections in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are scheduled for early 2022. These elections are crucial .as the results might have a major impact on India's 2024 general elections. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will compete with the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress.

A day after six rebel legislators from Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), once a ruling party in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, joined Samajwadi Party (SP), former state chief Mayawati has slammed the turncoats.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the BSP chief Mayawati said: “With state assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh round the corner, the turncoats have started switching the parties but this is not going to increase the support base of any party rather it will only harm them. Therefore, the BSP leaders should refrain from such defectors.”

1. यूपी विधानसभा आमचुनाव नजदीक आने पर अब फिर से आएदिन दलबदलू लोगों के इस पार्टी से उस पार्टी में आने-जाने का दौर शुरू हो गया है किन्तु इससे किसी भी पार्टी का जनाधार बढ़ने वाला नहीं है बल्कि इससे उन्हें हानि ही होगी। अतः बीएसपी के लोग ऐसे बरसाती मेंढकों को पार्टी से दूर ही रखें।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) October 31, 2021

“Not only the turncoats, but a lot of parties have also emerged which had never been heard off. The people of the state understand the game of power and won’t be carried away by it. Change is permanent,” she said in another tweet.

2. केवल दलबदलू ही नहीं बल्कि बरसाती मेंढकों की तरह अनेकों ऐसी पार्टियों के नाम भी लोगों को सुनने को मिल रहे हैं जिनके नाम अब तक देखने-सुनने को नहीं मिले थे। सत्ता लोलुपता के ऐसे खेल को जनता खूब समझती है व इससे उनपर कोई प्रभाव नहीं पड़ने वाला है। परिवर्तन अटल है।

— Mayawati (@Mayawati) October 31, 2021

Ahead of the crucial assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, slated to be held in March-April 2022, six rebel Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the BSP and one from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) joined the SP in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav, former state chief and SP chief, at the party headquarters on Saturday.

Both the SP and the BSP, have previously formed the governments in Uttar Pradesh in different terms. In 2019, both the parties even buried two decades of acrimony to take on the BJP in the state for the general elections. However, they failed as BJP secured victory with 62 seats out of 80 while the coalition of BSP and SP won only have 15.

In the 2017 state assembly polls, the BJP contested on 384 seats out of 403 and secured a clear mandate by winning 312 seats while the SP contested on 298 seats and won 47 seats. The BSP contested on all the seats and won only 19 seats whereas the Congress was at the fourth spot with victory on only seven seats.