Mayawati received a shot in the arm when senior Samajwadi Party and Mulayam Singh confidante Ambika Chaudhary joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at the conclusion of a press conference in lucknow on Saturday .
Welcoming Chaudhary in the BSP, Mayawati said that the senior leader would be given more respect and power in the party than he was given in the SP. She also announced that the former SP MlC would be fielded from Chaudhary;’s traditional Fefna Assembly seat of Ballia.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, Chaudhary lost from Fefna seat to a BJP nominee. Despite the loss Mulayam esnured that he was made an MlC and a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet.
But during the intra-party feud which enveloped the SP, Chaudhary was sacked from the ministry even as he stayed by the side of Mulayam Singh and Shivpal Yadav.
Soon after joining the BSP, Ambika Chaudhary said, “I am thankful to Behenji and have resigned from the primary membership of Samajwadi Party. I have joined the BSP to fight against the communal forces.”
On being asked whether other SP leaders will follow suit, Chaudhary said, “Don’t know what other leaders will do and will let you media persons to make a guess”.
Chaudhary said that the situation turned ugly in the SP from September 13 and the political condition was very fluid now. “The SP has failed to fulfill its responsibility to counter communal forces and after ECI’s decision on January 16, their conspiracy has come to the fore,” Chaudhary added.
“Any one can support or oppose Mulayam Singh politically. But the manner in which CM Akhilesh Yadav and his aides behaved with him has been deplored across the country. I am also very saddened by it,” he said.
Earlier during the press conference, when Mayawati was asked would she allow if Shivpal Yadav wanted to contest the polls froher party, she replied, “I can make any remark on this only if Shivpal comes with such offer.”