Ex-MLA Ajay Kumar quits BSP in 48 days
Accuses Mayawati of undermining BSP’s interests in polls, praises Keshav Maurya
PRAYAGRAJ : A two-time former MLA from Bara seat of Prayagraj, Ajay Kumar, resigned from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday, within 48 days of joining it.
Kumar, a sitting BJP MLA from Bara (before 2022 polls), was denied a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), following which he resigned from the party and joined the BSP in the run-up to the assembly elections. He had contested the polls on BSP ticket from Bara, but finished third.
Confirming his resignation from the BSP, Kumar alleged that BSP chief Mayawati had now moved away from the ideology of BSP founder Kanshi Ram. He said Mayawati got her party’s votes transferred to rivals by urging her voters from an open platform to vote for the BJP, wherever Samajwadi Party (SP) was strong.
“What inference can be drawn from this? BSP chief Mayawati held a public meeting in Prayagraj during the polls but did not call any party candidate on stage and even did not take the name of any of her party candidates contesting from the region. Hurt over these things, I am leaving the BSP,” he said but refrained from announcing as to which political party he was planning to join now.
Ajay Kumar, however, praised former deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, claiming that he had ensured a lot of development in Prayagraj and Kaushambi but still lost the election from Sirathu.
This statement was being seen by many as a hint of his possible return to the saffron party.
In 2022 assembly election, the BJP had given Ajay Kumar’s Bara seat to its alliance partner Apna Dal (Sonelal). Angered by this, Kumar had resigned from the BJP on February 3. The BSP chief gave ticket to Ajay Kumar cancelling the candidature of Shiv Prakash, who was first declared as BSP candidate from the seat. Kumar had won the 2012 election from Bara on SP ticket. Before the assembly elections in 2017, he had taken membership of BJP and won for the second time from the seat.