LUCKNOW: Adding to Samajwadi Party’s efforts to strengthen its position among Brahmins in Purvanchal region, two sitting MLAs, a former chairman of the legislative council and a host of other senior leaders joined SP in the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Sunday.
The list includes the name of sitting BSP MLA from Chillupar seat in Gorakhpur, Vinay Shankar Tiwariand his brother Kushal Tiwari, a former MP from Sant Kabir Nagar
. Vinay is the son of former cabinet minister Hari Shankar Tiwari
who had attained the image of a strongman in the 70s and 80s and went on to become a minister in several state governments, including ones led by Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Others who joined SP were BJP MLA from Khalilabad, Digvijay Narayanalias Jai Chaubey
, former legislative council chairman Ganesh Shankar Pandey, who is also a kin of Tiwari, Santosh Tiwari of BSP from Karnailganj and a host of other leaders, mostly from the Brahmin community and from Purvanchal districts.
Within the SP ranks, the development is being viewed as yet another major attempt of Akhilesh Yadav to strengthen his party’s position in Purvanchal region. Earlier jailed don Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Sibgatullah Ansari joined the SP and recently former BJP ally Om Prakash Rajbhar of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party had announced that it would contest the 2022 assembly polls as an alliance partner of SP. Both Anasaris and OP Rajbhar have clout in Purvanchal region.
Welcoming the leaders into the party-fold, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav said: “I am happy that such a big and influential family has come with us and now there is no competition for the Samajwadi Party anywhere.” He also welcomed Payal Kinnar’s (transgender) return to SP and assured all help to her community.
Attacking the BJP, Akhilesh accused the government of taking up projects and schemes on the basis of caste and religion. “It looks like this government has adopted the divide and rule policy of the British. While the British ruled by dividing, the BJP is ruling by spreading fear and intimidation. However, the people have now understood this, and the people in the 2022 elections will teach them (BJP) a lesson.”
Addressing the gathering, Vinay Shankar Tiwari, who was expelled from the BSP recently for anti-party activities, described Akhilesh as a popular leader and went on to state that under the BJP government in UP, democracy has been overshadowed by autocracy where free speech is not welcomed. “The government has divided the people and instilled hatred,” he maintained.
Tiwari said the government had set up big hoardings advertising its achievements but the ground reality was completely different. “Brahmin community has been completely deprived of justice under the present regime. The state government has initiated a policy where police encounters are the new normal in UP,” he said.