BSP ministers and legislators who have been denied tickets in the party are now preparing to emerge as major trouble-makers for the BSP in the coming Assembly elections.
Most of these legislators are preparing to contest either as Independents or from small parties like the Peace Party and the Bundelkhand Congress but their campaign will be decidedly anti-BSP.
They may or may not win elections themselves but there is little doubt that they will cause damage to the official BSP candidate in their respective constituencies. Former BSP minister Badshah Singh, who was dropped from the council of ministers earlier this month after bring indicted by the Lokayukta, is now preparing to contest the Mahoba seat, either as an Independent or on the Peace Party symbol.
A close aide of the former minister said Badshah Singh was preparing to contest as an Independent but he was also getting feelers from the Peace Party.
“The only thing that is confirmed is that he will contest the polls and tell the people how he was framed by the BSP government,” said the aide.
Former ministers Ranganath Misra and Avadh Pal Singh Yadav are believed to be looking for better options and are keen on contesting on an anti-BSP plank. Jitendra Singh Babloo, another BSP MLA who was recently suspended, has joined the Peace Party and displayed his strength at a hugely attended rally held last fortnight.
The MLA is preparing for a round of BSP bashing when he begins his campaign next month. Interestingly, he has also weaned away a large section of BSP supporters in his constituency Bikapur.
BSP MLA Chandra Bhadra Singh, a.k.a Sonu Singh, has been denied a ticket but he is determined to contest as an Independent from Sultanpur. His supporters say his campaign will focus on how the BSP ditched him after using his support. Others in this list are Brijesh Misra Saurabh from Pratapgarh, Manju Singh (Ballia) Haji Yakub (Meerut) and Rajdev Singh (Jaunpur).
Expelled BSP legislators like Guddu Pandit (Dibai), K.K. Singh (Hardoi) and Yogendra Sagar (Bilsi) are also gearing up to contest as Independent and cause maximum damage to the BSP.
A senior BSP functionary, however, dismissed off the threat from these ex-ministers and legislators and said, “Without the BSP, they are all non-entities and people are no going to rely on them. We are confident that they will not be able to cause any damage.”