4 BSP leaders resign as Maya decides to go it alone in state

Phagwara: Following BSP supremo Mayawati's announcement on March 15 that the party would go it alone in Punjab in the 2017 assembly elections, four persons resigned from primary membership of the party. They include former Punjab BSP general secretary Jarnail Nangal, who was also the party's candidate in the 2012 assembly polls from Phagwara, Amarjit Khutan, Vijay Pandori and Sukhwinder Shergill, three block samiti members from Phagwara.
Quitting the party, the BSP leadres said the party had been reduced to a wing of the ruling Shiromani Akal Dal (Badal) and the decision to go alone would also benefit the Akalis.
Flanked by three block samiti members, Nangal alleged that the party unit had been made the personal property of general secretary and Punjab affairs in-charge Narinder Kashyap and state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri, whose decisions and actions were aimed at pleasing the SAD. He also alleged that the Punjab government is providing all facilities to the two leaders.
Incidentally, Nangal was the state convener of Bahujan Samaj Volunteer Force and Youth Wing of the party. Saying that party founder Kanshi Ram always wanted the BSP to emerge as a national force, Nangal said Mayawati did not aspire for power outside Uttar Pradesh.
"Kanshi Ram always adapted the strategy of struggle and suitable alliances. However, Mayawati decided not to have any alliance to ensure that the party did not win any seat in Punjab after the 1997 aseembly elections. Its strength was reduced to zero in the Lok Sabha as well," he said. Nangal said he wanted the hard work of party workers to bear fruit in terms of seats in the assembly election but he was sidelined by the current dispensation.
Meanwhile, inquiries from different sources in the BSP revealed a strong feeling in a considerable section of the party to have an alliance in view of the party's dipping vote share. In the 2014 parliament elections, BSP's vote share was reduced to 1.9%. In the 2012 assembly elections, BSP gained reserve seats in Doaba and ensured that the Congress lost those seats. Apart from losing vote share, BSP has also lost some of its senior leaders to other parties in the last few years.