In a fresh rebellion in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), two MLAs on Wednesday accused the party leadership of demanding “huge sums” for allotting tickets for the 2017 UP Assembly polls, prompting the party to suspend them hours after they levelled the allegation.
The party cracked the whip on Palia MLA Romi Sahni and Mallawan MLA Brijesh Verma “taking a serious note of the baseless allegations and indiscipline” and suspended them with immediate effect.
“They have been suspended and directed not to take part in any party programme,” state BSP chief Ram Achal Rajbhar said in a press release. The action came after the two legislators criticised party workers for sloganeering against expelled BJP leader Dayashankar Singh’s family and accused the party leadership of demanding “huge sums” for allotting tickets for the UP polls.
“We condemn Singh’s remarks against BSP chief Mayawati and also oppose the slogans raised during the BSP protest...his 12-year-old daughter cannot be punished for what Singh has said...our sympathy is with the family,” the two rebel BSP MLAs told reporters here.
They alleged that the BSP was getting a “bad name” because of the “huge sums” being demanded for party tickets which was against the ideals of both BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram, adding that anywhere between Rs 2-10 crore was being demanded for tickets for the UP polls and even sitting MLAs were not spared. Rajbhar, however, claimed that the BSP denied ticket to Sahni as he had remained busy in Lucknow to look after his business interests.