A large number of candidates whose tickets has been finalised by UP chief minister and BSP president Mayawati, may finally end up losing their claim to contest on the BSP symbol.
If party sources are to be believed, Ms Mayawati has started doing rethinking on the candidates selected for the next Assembly elections. Apparently, the ground situation that the chief minister saw during her month-long inspection of the various districts, has forced her give a fresh thought to the candidates.
“More than 55 per cent tickets are likely to be changed. The chief minister will shortly be making a fresh assessment of the candidate’s image, his equation with local party cadres and the work done by him in his constituency. Those who fall short on these parameters will be removed from the BSP list,” said a senior party functionary.
According to sources, majority of those who came in from other parties into the BSP in the 2007 Assembly polls, are the ones who may be denied a re-nomination this time.
“These ‘outsiders’ have failed to work up a rapport with the party cadres and this proves detrimental to party interests. We have been regularly receiving complaints from certain districts about the party cadres being ignored or sidelined by the party legislators. Mayawati ji does not wish to continue with such candidates who have failed to amalgamate themselves with the party’s fabric,” the functionary said.
Most of these outsiders, incidentally, have already sensed that they may lose their ticket and have already started building bridges with other parties. For instance, BSP MLA Brijesh Misra Saurabh was recently spotted with BJP leader Kalraj Misra and though he tried to shrug off the meeting saying that he has family relations with the BJP leader, the rumour mills were agog with reports that Mr Misra would now contest on a BJP ticket.