Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who had been at the receiving end all through three-and-a-half years of Mulayam Singh Yadav's rule, is now getting into gear to teach her opponent his first lesson.
In a dramatic development in Lucknow on Wednesday, Samajwadi Party legislator Kazim Ali Khan resigned to join the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party, while Ram Sewak Singh, the lone newly-elected legislator belonging to Uma Bharti's Bharatiya Janshakti Party switched loyalties to the ruling party.
At a hastily-organised press conference, both the legislators not only sang praises for BSP chief Mayawati but also left no stone unturned in running down their past political mentors.
Even as Khan claimed that there was no arrangement between him and the BSP, speculation is rife that he had offered his Swar-Tanda seat in Rampur district to Mayawati, who needs to become a member of the state legislature within six months of her assuming office. Ram Sewak Singh was likely to be inducted into the Mayawati cabinet shortly.
Khan, who has a track record of jumping fences, began his career in the Congress, only to switch sides with the BSP where he became a minister. Subsequently, when the last Mayawati government was ousted, Khan crossed over to SP and now he has chosen to bounce back to BSP.
Interestingly however, Khan, who is the scion of the erstwhile princely family of Rampur, claimed, "I never switched sides for any personal gains." He however, clarified: "It was because of personal reasons that I decide to change my party."
His mother Begum Noor Bano was a Congress MP.
Khan described former UP minister Azam Khan as the main factor for his disillusionment with SP.
"What pained me even more was then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's helplessness before Azam Khan's despotic ways," he said.
"Mulayam refused to pay any heed to my repeated complaints about Azam's attitude and the worst came when the chief minister turned a blind eye to Azam's blatant bid to sabotage my election by putting up a rebel candidate against me," he sought to point out.
He went to the extent of adding, "Today, I also have reason to believe that there was some secret understanding between SP and BJP."
Ram Sewak Singh, who has been a BJP legislator over the past four terms from Binawar in Budaun district, said, "I was inspired to switch over to BSP because it has done unparalleled work for the uplift and well-being of the Kurmi community (OBC) to which I belong."
He even went to the extent of claiming that he was 'highly impressed' by the election speeches delivered by Mayawati during her campaign.
Mayawati's trusted ministers, Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha, were also present during the press conference.
"We heartily welcome both Kazim Ali Khan and Ram Sewak Singh into the BSP," Siddiqui said in confirmation.
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