Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 13: In less than 24 hours after flatly denying he had any plans to desert the BJP, prominent OBC leader Dharam Singh Saini on Thursday resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet in Uttar Pradesh and also the BJP making it the third consecutive desertions from the Yogi cabinet in as many days.
Saini submitted his resignation accusing the BJP government in the state of neglecting both people and elected representatives of the Dalit and OBC communities. These communities along with farmers and educated youth had provided the BJP a thumping majority in 2017, said Saini in his resignation letter to Governor Anandiben Patel.
Saini’s resignation followed quitting from the BJP of two more sitting MLAs, Mukesh Verma representing Shikohabad in Firozabad district and Vinay Shakya from Auraiya resigned from the party also accusing it of neglecting leaders and elected representatives from the Dalit, OBC and minority communities.
Just 24 hours ago, Dharam Singh Saini, a four-time MLA from Nakud in Saharanpur and a key OBC leader, had rubbished reports of leaving the BJP. He had also slammed Swami Prasad Maurya, the first to quit and set the tone for a series of exits.
“My name was wrongly given in Swami Prasad Maurya’s list that is floating around. I had no idea. I am and will be in the BJP. I am not leaving the party,” Saini had said in a video he released to refute the reports. But soon afterwards, he returned his government home and security giving tell-tale signs that he was on his way out.
Soon after Saini, who held the post of Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ayush, Food Security and Drug Administration, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav hailed him as a “warrior of social justice” and welcomed him to his party. Sharing a picture of himself with Saini, Yadav said his addition to the SP would strengthen and provide enthusiasm to his party’s “positive and progressive politics.”
Even as the desertions from the party ranks continued in Lucknow, the BJP top brass holding meetings in Delhi is reported to have finalized seat-sharing arrangements with its alliance partners for the next month’s elections. Desertion of the OBC leaders from the party is expected to have increased the bargaining strength of the BJP’s close allies in UP, Nishad Party and Apna Dal, both representing backward classes.
Saini, an MLA from Saharanpur, follows the path of two of his predecessors Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chouhan who had resigned from the Yogi cabinet in the last two days and are likely to join the Samajwadi Party or forge an alliance with it. “Maurya is the “voice of the oppressed,” said Verma, a statement echoed by Shakya. “He is our leader. I am with him,” Verma said and claimed at least 100 BJP MLAs were expected to desert the party before the elections.
In recent weeks, more than a dozen BJP MLAs have joined the SP or its ally RLD in an indication of support for their alliance. These include Dara Singh Chauhan, Radha Krishna Sharma, Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini, Rakesh Rathore, Bhagwati Sagar, Madhuri Verma, Mukesh Verma, Avtar Singh Badhana, and Roshan Lal Verma.
Amid the exodus of the OBC leaders to the SP, the BJP is trying to reclaim the OBC space it has dominated for the past few years. Party State chief Swatantra Dev Singh played up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has often used his OBC identity to connect with voters, as the guardian of the backward sections.
“Modi keeps the interests of the poor, Dalit, deprived and backward sections in his heart,” said Singh, himself an OBC. “Modi embraced, empowered, honoured and considered his own those sections of society whom the Opposition only exploited,” he said.
The Congress, meanwhile, has become the first party to release a list of some its candidates for the UP Assembly elections. The party national general secretary and in-charge of UP affairs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday released the first list of 125 candidates with 40 per cent presentation to women and 40 per cent to youths. Releasing the list, Priyanka Gandhi said as promised by the party earlier, “we have given 50 seats out of 125 in the first list to women candidates only.” Priyanka Gandhi apparently has made women the party’s main target for votes after coining the slogan “Ladki hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon,” (I am a woman and I can fight).
Among the candidates to fight under the Congress banner would be the mother of the Unnao rape victim, an activist against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), who was allegedly kicked by the Lucknow police in the stomach and was kept in the police custody for over 20 days, some Asha workers, as well as the wife of the party’s prominent leader Salman Khurshid.
Releasing the list at an online press conference on Thursday, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said it sends a “new message” that those who face injustice have the power to fight back for their rights.”
“The Congress party in UP will give you this power, support and help you in every possible way so that you can fight your battle. Come into politics, fight for your rights by being part of the power structure,” Ms Vadra said.
While Asha Singh, mother of the rape victim, has been fielded from the Unnao assembly seat, anti-CAA activist and party spokesperson in Uttar Pradesh, Sadaf Jafar is the candidate from the Lucknow central seat. Asha worker and activist Poonam Pandey, who fought for the rights of Asha workers has been fielded from Shahjahanpur and Ram Raj Gond, a tribal leader who fought for the rights of Adivasis in Sonbhadra, has been fielded from the Ponga constituency in the state. Ms Vadra said the Congress is making a new beginning by fielding 40% women candidates while another 40 percent are youth.
“I don’t see this as creating new vote bank of young women. I see this as empowering women to ask for their rights and stand up for themselves. They are 50 % of the population, and frankly, it is absolutely their right to participate in politics,” Vadra said. Asked what role does the Congress see for itself in these elections, Ms Vadra, the party’s UP in-charge, said the party would look strengthen its organisation and work towards dislodging the Yogi Adityanath government.
“Today, the government in Uttar Pradesh is a dictatorial government,” she said, adding the party would be open to supporting to a non-BJP alliance post poll if the need arises.
Apart from fielding Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Kumar Lallu (Tamkuhi Raj), legislature party leader, Aradhna Misra Mona (Rampur Khas), Louise Khurshid, (Farrukhabad), the party has given tickets to journalists, actors, activists and social workers who have struggled on the streets for justice and for their rights.
