Lucknow, Dec 22 () It has been more than six months since Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Satish Chandra Mishra has been missing in action.
Initially, it was said that he was not active in party affairs because of ill health but now it seems that he has been side-lined because the Bahujan Samaj Party no longer wishes to focus on upper caste, mainly Brahmins.
The BSP is firmly rooting for Dalits, OBCs and Muslims, and Mishra is not required for this action plan.
Mayawati has already sacked former cabinet minister Nakul Dubey and then another Brahmin leader, Anil Pandey.
Dubey joined the Congress and is now a zonal president of the party. Nakul Dubey, incidentally, was said to be a protege of S.C. Mishra.
According to a senior party functionary, Mayawati received feedback that the party’s Dalit cadres were ‘upset’ at the ‘overbearing presence’ of Satish Chandra Mishra in the party and his role in decision-making.
“Dalits were naturally upset at being ordered around by an upper caste person. Behenji (Mayawati) has now restricted Mishra’s role to legal issues in the party,” the functionary said.
Mishra’s name, significantly, was not included in the list of star campaigners of the BSP for the bypolls in Azamgarh and Rampur, earlier this year.
Mishra rose to an exalted position in 2007 when the BSP played the Brahmin card under his leadership and Mayawati formed her first government with an absolute majority.
However, thereafter, the BSP graph has been on the downslide and Brahmins deserted the BSP for BJP when the Modi era began.
The party touched its nadir in the 2022 Assembly polls when it could manage to win only one seat.
amita/dpb