Mayawati strips another party leader of post

Party’s national coordinator and general secretary Vir Singh was present at a function where Jai Prakash Singh had commented about party’s alliances, which Mayawati had said weren’t in consonance with the party line.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati effected an organisational rejig on Sunday, stripping the party’s national coordinator and general secretary Vir Singh of his position and appointing a Dalit leader in place of Jai Prakash Singh, whose comments on party alliances had provoked the action.

BSP chief Mayawati has warned party leaders not to make any comments on alliance matters and said leaders ignoring warnings would face action. (PTI FILE PHOTO)

Ramji Lal Gautam, who replaced Jai Prakash Singh as party vice-president, was so far looking after party work in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Jai Prakash Singh and Vir Singh were elevated by Mayawati recently, but reportedly lost favour with the BSP leadership after the July 16 function in Lucknow where Jai Prakash Singh made personal attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Mayawati was also upset with Jai Prakash for having commented on the likely alliance against the BJP and the BSP’s role in it. Soon afterwards, Mayawati warned party leaders to not make any comments on alliance matters and said leaders ignoring warnings would face action.

Vir Singh had not made the remarks but was present at the function in which Jai Prakash made the comments. Jai Prakash was stripped of his post soon after the Lucknow function but action against Vir came on Sunday.

Apart from MP, Ashok, who was so far looking after the party work in south, has also been given additional responsibility of Chhattisgarh.

Former UP minister Ambika Chaudhary too has been entrusted with the responsibility of Chhattisgarh. The BSP has appointed Attar Singh as in-charge of Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh while former Rajya Sabha MP Munqad Ali has been made in-charge of Rajasthan where the party work was so far handled by Dharamvir Ashok. Ali has also been appointed coordinator of Aligarh and Agra division.