Dayashankar Singh : A hero till the day he became a villain

BALLIA: Things were on an upward swing for expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dayashankar Singh till the time he made the allegedly unsavoury remark against BSP supremo Mayawati on July 20. A day before he made the remark, Dayashankar was accorded a grand welcome by party workers in Ballia on his first arrival after being elevated to the post of UP unit vice-president. On May 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also launched Ujjwala Yojana from Dayashankar's area in Ballia.

But, today even his closest party colleagues have dissociated themselves from him. Dayashankar's supporters in Ballia believe that though he expressed views similar to those expressed by BSP leaders quitting the party, he used the “wrong word at the wrong time“ and landed in trouble.

“It seems to be just a slip of tongue , but he should have been careful. However, the meaning of his statement was the same what was already spoken by the leaders who had quit BSP. It will not harm the party's prospect in Ballia,“ Ashish Mishra, a staunch supporter of BJP and native of Bigahi Pauvra village, told TOI.

While distancing himself from Dayashankar, BJP Ballia president Vinod Kumar Dubey said: “Ye unka niji vichar tha, party ko is se koi lena dena nahi hai (It was his personal view, party has nothing to do with it).“

BJP sources, however, admit that the remark has put the party in a spot. Believed to be the strongest claimant of BJP ticket from Ballia city seat in the UP Assembly elections, Singh has axed his own political prospects and also given an opportunity to BSP to sharpen its claws ahead of Assembly polls in the state.

There are mixed reactions among people on the issue. “It is to be seen what damage his remarks has done to BJP, but the party has its base in upper caste Thakur, Brahmin and Baniya communities,“ Dhanesh Gupta, a lawyer said. Ballia seat is dominated by Brahmins, followed by Yadavs, Baniyas and Thakurs.But, Dayashankar's image is not fair in Ballia, from where he had already lost in 2007 election badly , he said.

“It is too early to predict the impact of his statement on UP Assembly elections but he has given BSP an opportunity to try to capitalize on the situation,“ Ajeet Kumar Yadav, district vice-president of Samajwadi Lohia Vahini, said. The Dalit voters are already with the BSP but they alone cannot become game changers, he added.

The Dalit votes are concentrated only in Belthara Road and Rasara Assembly constituencies of the district.