UP assembly election: Opposition parties grab tainted BSP leaders

LUCKNOW: UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati's `waste' is turning out be `asset' for the Opposition parties. The ministers and MLAs sacked by her on charges of corruption and involvement in criminal activities are getting tickets from other parties for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Latest in the series is Rajpal Tygai who has been fielded by Samajwadi Party from Muradnagar assembly seat in Ghaziabad.

Rajpal Tyagi was dropped by Mayawati from her cabinet last month after high court ordered a CBI probe into a fake encounter case. Rajpal Tyagi has been accused of influencing police to kill his rival Ravindra Tyagi in a fake encounter last year. However, SP on Wednesday replaced Dikshant Tyagi, who was earlier given ticket from Muradnagar, with Rajpal Tygai. The SP leaders said that the high court has only ordered an inquiry against Rajpal Tyagi. He has not been found guilty as yet, they said. Significantly, earlier, two MLAs -- Guddu Pandit and Sher Bahadur Singh -- expelled by Mayawati on charges of involvement in criminal activities were also given tickets by the SP.

SP is not the only party to grab expelled BSP MLAs and ministers. BJP has given tickets to two former ministers in Mayawati government -- Daddan Mishra and Awdhesh Kumar Verma -- for the elections. The two were sacked by Mayawati on charges of corruption and neglecting their constituencies. BJP had also inducted former family welfare minister in Mayawati cabinet, Babu Singh Kushwaha, who is the prime suspect in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.

Mayawati had removed and later expelled Kushwaha after allegations of his involvement in the NRHM scam surfaced. The BJP was forced to suspend the membership of Kushwaha after some senior leaders opposed his induction. However, Kushwaha is campaigning for BJP for the elections to be held in February.

RLD has also given tickets for elections to three tainted BSP MLAs -- Thakur Yashpal Singh, Haji Yakub Quereshi and Shanawaz Rana. While Yashpal Singh was expelled by Mayawati on corruption charges, Quereshi was axed for his alleged derogatory remarks of the Sikh community, and Rana for trying to protect his nephew accused of kidnapping and raping two Delhi-based girls.