Maurya quits BSP, Mayawati says good riddance

Lucknow, June 22  In a major blow to the BSP, senior leader Swamy Prasad Maurya on Wednesday quit the party. In no time, BSP leader Mayawati hit back, saying she was anyway planning to expel him.

Maurya, leader of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, said he felt "suffocated" as Mayawati was "selling" party tickets and had given up the principles and ideology of party founder Kanshi Ram.

Maurya, however, thanked Mayawati for giving him plum posts in the party and said he had discussed issues that were worrying him with her but found that she was not interested in course correction.

A national vice-president of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Maurya's resignation is widely seen as a major blow to the Dalit party which is aiming to return to power in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Maurya said he would disclose his future strategy in some days.

Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference, minutes after Maurya announced his decision, Mayawati rebutted his charges and said he had been trying to get ticket for his son and daughter.

When she said 'no', Maurya quit the party, she alleged. 

"He has been seeking ticket for his family for the 2017 assembly polls. I had relented on the advise of party colleagues in 2012 but both his children lost," she said. 

Mayawati said the party was going to expel him very soon and it was good he had quit on his own. 

"Unhone hum par upkaar kiya ki khud hi unhone party chor di (He has done us a favour by leaving the party on his own)," said the four-time chief minister. 

The BSP is desperate to win the 2017 assembly polls after being wiped out in Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.