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ZP chief: SP spoils BSP equations

EAGLE-EYED POLL managers of the Samajwadi Party practically spoiled the Bahujan Samaj Party?s Dalit-Brahmin equation to gain the coveted chairmanship of Zila panchayat.

Published on: Jan 7, 2006, 24:21:00 IST
PTI | By , Kanpur
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EAGLE-EYED POLL managers of the Samajwadi Party practically spoiled the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Dalit-Brahmin equation to gain the coveted chairmanship of Zila panchayat.

HT Image
HT Image

On the eve of the polling, the victory of SP candidate Seema appeared within sight, as with a shrewd mechanism put in place, she got unexpected support from even opposition parties.

Surprising as it may seem, Seema, wife of MLA Rakesh Sachan, is backed by the Congress, the BJP and even the BSP.

As per the last head count, 18 members currently putting up at heavily guarded Hotel Vijay Villa, Tilak Nagar, have supported Sachan over BSP’s Om Prakash Tripathi. A candidate, technically, needs 14 votes out of total 27 to become ZP chairman. And the new equation resulted in drastic cut in prices of ‘Bajra’ offered to panchayat members.

Till Thursday when both the SP and the BSP appeared heading for a neck-to-neck fight, Bajra prices varied from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh. Now with the SP tightening its grip, the price has come down to Rs 40,000. The SP in fact fancied its chances largely because of the defection by a BSP rebel from Sarsaul with two panchayat members. When scales were evenly balanced, this move clearly disturbed BSP’s Dalit-Brahmin equation. The blue brigade was out poaching so as to avoid the last glitch when this Thakur leader walked off.

Before the party could realign, a Congress MLA, a senior BJP leader from Chaubeypur added two more members to the tally.

While party old guard Harmohan Singh Yadav arranged three more members after being reprimanded by the top SP leadership. To skirt horse-trading by the BSP, all the members were immediately moved to Vijay Villa where the SP leaders had booked 20 rooms — guarded by two guards at each room. The party is so careful none of the members are being left alone and they go outside with guards in their tow..

In addition, a battery of top party leaders such as Yadav, his son Jagram Singh Yadav, MLAs Shiv Kumar Bera, Aruna Tomar, MP Aruna Kori, Lal Singh Tomar, Munindra Shukla and Jauhari Lal Trivedi camps at the hotel. On the other, BSP candidate Tripathi is hopeful of riding to victory and blasted the SP for its unethical moves to ensure win of its candidate.

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