Jolted by the rebellion and subsequent exit of former leader of Opposition Swamy Prasad Maurya from the party on June 22, the BSP received a shot in the arm when almost all its legislators attended a meeting called by Mayawati to elect a new leader to replace Maurya in the Assemblyon Saturday.
"Maurya is a lone deserter and his exit neither has any impact on the party nor any influence among the caste he belongs to," Mayawati said while speaking to reporters after the meeting at the state party office in lucknow.
The BSP chief said that the announcement of a new leader of the Opposition in UP Assembly would be announced later in the day.
Claiming that all was well in the party, Mayawati hit out at Maurya termed him as 'traitor and selfish' leader focussed on promoting his family members by seeking tickets for them.
"Maurya has betrayed the party but his exit doesn't mean that the BSP was not concerned about the Backward Castes. The BSP will continue to fight for their cause and memvers of Maurya, Saini, Kushwaha and other communities would be given the same importance," she asserted.
"A year back, I had asked Maurya not to press for Assembly tickets for his children but he persisted. When the party finally refused, he revolted. In BSP, when a leader leaves the party, he goes alone as no one is ready to support him. later many of them tendered written apology to get reinducted as their political life comes to an end after deserting the BSP," claimed the BSP chief.
Mayawati stressed that several party members have expressed happiness on the exit of Maurya.
Meanwhile, after Romi Sahni from lakhmpur Kheri, Brajesh Verma from Hardoi, who was expelled from the party a week back, was also re-inducted into the party fold after tendering written apology.
While Sahni rejoined the party on Friday night and even gave a statement against Maurya, Verma announced his decision on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Swami Prasad Maurya on his returned from Delhi to lucknow on Saturday morning, closeted himself with close associates for holding a meeting of his supporters in lucknow on July 1.