Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Mulayam Singh-aide, Ambika Chaudhary, stunned everyone on Saturday when he resigned from all party posts and shifted ranks to arch rivals Bahujan Samaj Party.
Mr. Chaudhary, who has been a minister in tenures of both Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav, was welcomed to the BSP by its supremo Mayawati and the end of a press conference. He was part of the SP since its formation.
Ms. Mayawati declared Mr. Chaudhary would contest the Assembly elections from his preferred seat in Ballia, Phephana. The leader had lost from it in 2012. He was then elected as an MLC and served as a cabinet minister under Akhilesh Yadav, holding the Backward Welfare portfolio but was dropped last year by the CM along with many others of the old guard considered close to Shivpal Yadav.
During the infighting in the SP, after Shivpal Yadav dethroned Akhilesh Yadav as the State president, Mr. Chaudhary was nominated as a party spokesperson. However, once Akhilesh Yadav took over the party, uncertainty again loomed once again.
Sources say, Mr. Chaudhary was not guaranteed a ticket this time.
Questioning the objective of the infighting in the Yadav clan over the past few months, Mr. Chaudhary attacked the SP for neglecting its “responsibility” as a political party to first protect the interests of people and stop communal forces. “The events over the last few months have proved to me that the entire motive of what happened was something other than shielding secular people and the downtrodden,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
He attacked Akhilesh Yadav for disrespecting his father Mulayam Singh. “The way in which Akhilesh behaved with him, he was rejected...has been condemned and criticized by one and all. I am also saddened by it,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
He said he decided to shift to the BSP to help it in its “decisive fight” against the BJP.
While welcoming the leader with a bouquet, a rare sight as Ms. Mayawati usually deputes her junior leaders to preside over entry of outsiders, the former CM said she would shower Mr. Chaudhary with “more respect” that he got in the SP.
During her statement, Ms. Mayawati as usual targeted the Akhilesh Yadav government for its law and order problem, dubbing the Yadav scion a “tainted face.” She however, displayed a soft stand on Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh’s Uncle, saying he had been “restricted to one seat” and “publicly insulted” and degraded to promote the image of Akhilesh Yadav.
Ms. Mayawati said Shivpal Yadav had been used as a “scapegoat” by Mulayam Singh as part of a “well-thought out strategy” to divert attention from the “failures and shortcomings” of Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal would “teach them a lesson” in the elections, she said, predicting that the base vote of the SP, the Yadavs, would split into two. When a reporter asked her if she would take in Shivpal Yadav if he wished to join the BSP, Ms. Mayawati left a lot of room for speculation. “Let him make the request first. I will consider it and let you know,” she said.
Though sources told The Hindu that some other SP leaders were also in touch with him, Mr. Chaudhary, said his move was “not part of a plan.” “I did not try to discuss it any level. It was my own decision.” he said.
His entry provides a psychological boost to the BSP in Purvanchal.
The SP downplayed the loss, terming him a spent force and an opportunist. "It is good he left. It becomes clear to the workers that he was working against the party.," an SP leader said.
