Mayawati’s resignation from RS accepted

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, a 4-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, on Thursday ceased to be a member of the Rajya Sabha, eight months ahead of her 6year term in the House.

Chairman Dr Hamid Ansari accepted her one-line handwritten resignation submitted to him for the second time on Wednesday evening, the Rajya Sabha was informed. The Chairman had rejected a 3-page letter she had personally submitted Tuesday evening since it was not in proper form.

The resignation letter cannot put any conditions or cite reasons while Mayawati had used her earlier letter to narrate why she was forced to resign after being prevented to speak in the House earlier in the day on atrocities on Dalits, the ‘samaj’ she represents.

A furious Mayawati had stormed out of the House declaring that she was quitting after the government and the ruling BJP benches protested over continuing to speak even after deputy chairman Prof. P J Kurien asserted that she cannot speak for more than three minutes on a rejected adjournment notice.

After her exit, the BSP is left with five members in the Rajya Sabha, one of whom is due to retirement in April when she was also to end her term while two others will continue till November 2020 and two others till July 2022.

The opposition leaders tried to persuade her not to take the drastic step of quitting the Rajya Sabha, but her party sources said she took the spot decision in the House to better go back to her people, the Dalits, and rebuild her support base lest her political career is finished.