Former Uttar Pradesh Cabinet minister and senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Ambika Chaudhary on Saturday dealt a big blow to the SP by leaving it in favour of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The development is a huge jolt for the SP, because it further weakens Mulayam, whose son and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has already snatched power within the party from him.
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Chaudhary was one of the senior-most politicians within the SP, but had of recent fallen foul of Akhilesh, who had removed him from his Cabinet in 2015 following allegations that Chaudhary had grabbed land from the poor at his ancestral village by getting their homes demolished.
Many had also seen his ouster as a result of the ongoing feud between Akhilesh and Mulayam, which had started to raise its head back then. It was speculated that his removal from the post of state revenue minister was due to his proximity to Mulayam, and Akhilesh was pushing him out to weaken his father's hold within the party.
Now, with Akhilesh at the helm of the SP, Chaudhary may have felt he had no chance of holding a position of power if the party returned to power, and that may have fuelled his shift to the BSP, which fights polls on the plank of Dalit welfare.
Speaking at a press conference alongside BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday, Chaudhary said: "I have resigned from the SP and all positions related to the party, and have dedicated myself completely to BSP now."
At the same press conference, Mayawati seemed to make an appeal to voters that could possibly give her yet another electoral advantage. She said: "Muslims should not waste their vote on the SP. They must vote for the BSP so that the BJP can be defeated." The SP has a sizeable Muslim voter base in UP, and some strong Muslim leaders like the ever-controversial Azam Khan.
