BSP supremo Mayawati has removed her party’s State head Chaudhary Charan Singh, a resident of Roorkee, and gave the command to a youth from Saharanpur of her native State Uttar Pradesh Kuldeep Baliyan, who is a Dalit . It is reported that the party is having its focus trained on Haridwar district once deemed to be its redoubt, keeping in view the upcoming lok Sabha election 2019. The appointment of 31-year-old Baliyan as the head of the State unit came into force from May 20.
“I am thankful to Bahanji for the confidence she has reposed in me. I would go all-out to further strengthen the party’s base in Uttarakhand. We would soon embark on the mission 2019 to ensure victory of the party in as many seats as possible,” said an ebullient Baliyan. It is learnt that he is originally from Rampur Maniharan while he is now living in Saharanpur. Earlier, Baliyan was the main zonal coordinator of the party in Saharanpur.
Notably, the party had appointed Roorkee-based Chaudhary Charan Singh as the state party head in March, 2017 replacing Bhrigurasan Rao. It is said that Singh could not have galvanised the party enough on the ground as per the expectation of Mayawati. His failure to bring Mayawati for the campaigning in his native district Haridwar in the run-up to 2017 Assembly election is supposed to have cast doom on his continuance as the State party chief. He has now been appointed as a general sectary of Uttarakhand BSP. Besides, he has been made the in-charge of the Haridwar lok Sabha seat. “My removal from the position of the State head should not be misconstrued as my failure into rising up to the party’s expectations. This is a tactical change which is generally done from time to time in accordance with the party’s political strategy,” said Singh.
The performance of BSP in hilly state had been impressive in Haridwar district as it had won five out of nine Assembly seats in 2002 election. But its poll fortunes continued to slide with every Assembly election held since. Its worst performance was during the 2017 Assembly election when it drew a blank.
“We have a big share of around 35 percent of a total 19 lakh population of Haridwar district. But we have failed to convert the groundswell of support into votes thanks to leadership failure. We hope things would change for the better now,” commented a local Dalit leader of the party Ashok Kumar.