Two MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party, Aslam Rainee and Anil Singh, defied party diktat and attended the special session of UP Assembly on Thursday.
Aslam Rainee slammed party chief Mayawati for boycotting the session but said he would remain a loyal member of the BSP.
“I am very much influenced by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and attending the session is my personal decision. It is a matter of deep regret that the opposition parties are boycotting this historic session,” the BSP MLA said.
He said the opposition parties should have participated in the session as they could have apprised the Chief Minister of the problems of their respective constituencies and people would have benefited’.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was present in the House and was smiling.
The BSP MLA charged his party’s leadership with deviating from the path shown by Dr BR Ambedkar and Bahujan icons. “Though I have faith in BSP leadership, the party has not learnt any lesson even after its tally has plummeted to 18 MLAs in UP Assembly. The opinions of MLAs have no worth for the BSP leadership, it’s only the zonal incharge who call the shots,” he said.
Rainee, the MLA from Bhinga Assembly constituency in Shravasti district, praised the BJP leadership for making rapid electoral advances in UP and succeeding in gaining a firm foothold in the state. He also slammed the BSP leadership for blaming EVMs for the series of electoral debacles.
“It is a very serious matter for the BSP as the Bharatiya Janata Party has moved heads and shoulders above all of its rivals. BJP has worked hard at the polling booth level and elections are not won by EVMs but by the solid work at the ground level,” the BSP MLA said.
Taking a break from the diatribe against the BSP, the MLA said I will not speak too much as “media will report that I have fallen in love with the BJP”.
“Don’t be afraid... Jab pyar kiya to darna kya,” Speaker Assembly Speaker Hriday Naryan Dikshit quipped , echoing the line of a song from Mughal-e-Azam and triggering laughter.
In his repartee, the MLA recited a line from another song in the same film that suggested that he could be flirting with the idea of switching sides. “Teri mehfil me kismat aajma kar hum bhi dekhenge,” he said. Roughly translated, it says, “I will try my luck in your gathering as well.”
The BSP M LA praised the Yogi Adityanath government for the anti-land mafia campaign across the state. He, however, complained that a plot of land bought by him in his wife’s name in Balrampur district had been occupied by the local toughs and the police were indifferent to it.
The BSP MLA also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the ban on single-use plastic. “I feel personally indebted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing LPG connections under Ujjawala scheme which has saved the health and eyesight of thousands of women,” the BSP MLA said.
