Azad to float a new political party;Mayawati to face a new challenge

Lucknow,December 13(HS)There is a bad news for Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati.

An emerging Dalit leader in Uttar Pradesh,Chandrashekhar Azad, has decided to float a political party and contest upcoming Assembly elections across the country.

A beginning will be made in Delhi,the state where Assembly election is due early next year.The Election Commission will be approached and name and symbol of the party will be decided soon,party sources said here on Friday.

Mayawati’s stocks are already low with defeat of all its candidates in recent by-elections in the state.As many of six of her candidates lost security deposits.

Her party had also done poorly in Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra where coalition governments have been formed.

After the general elections this year it was expected that the BSP would regain the lost ground  and do well in Assembly elections which would follow.

This hope was created because of  the party  bagging 10 out of 80 seats in UP as against zero in the previous Lok Sabha elections.But by-election and Assembly election results held subsequenly presented a different picture.

In this light,there are more people now who say that the her alliance with the SP was the main reason behind the party’s success in the general elections.Alone she would not have done so well.

She has already faced flak for some her recent decisions.Some leaders in the party are of the opinion that it was wrong on her part to ask party MPs to vote in favour of the Bill seeking withdrawal of special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

It has sent,according to them, a wrong signal to the Muslim community which had backed her in the past in addition to the SP.Muslims have felt let-down.

Walking out from the Rajya Sabha by some members during voting on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has also not gone well with them.

Mayawati’s supporters,however,defend  voting in favour of change of status of Jammu and Kashmir as it was aimed at providing reservation to Dalit like other parts of the country  who are party’s main supporters.

The Dalits had also faced persecution in Pakistan.Many of them had fled to this country.Granting of citizenship to them would make them happy.If some party MPs have taken it that way,they are not totally wrong,they believe.

However,all this has given a good propaganda material to Chandrashekhar Azad.His outfit Bhim Army has already contested student union elections in some states including neighbouring Bihar.

His decision to contest Assembly elections, therefore, is not unexpected.It is a well thought-out move to put Mayawati on notice.