A verbal duel between BSP chief Mayawati and outgoing BSP MP Akhilesh Das on Wednesday led to revelations which speak volumes about the murky play of money power in the political system.
BSP chief made the startling disclosure that Das had offered her a staggering Rs100 crore for a repeat six-year nomination to the Rajya Sabha till 2020. His present term in the Upper House ends on 18th of this month.
Das, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha and from the primary membership of the BSP just two days ago, rubbished the charge. "Everyone knows Mayawati sells election tickets. Even poor Scheduled Caste candidates are forced to cough up huge amounts as deposits," he told dna, adding: "This is why the BSP has been reduced to a zero (in the 2014 Lok Sabha election)."
Das has been an RS MP from the BSP quota since 2008. Before that, he got two Rajya Sabha terms from the Congress Party, and was a Union minister of state in UPA-1. He contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election on the BSP ticket from Lucknow.
"He offered me Rs100 crore for an RS seat. When I refused, he quit the party," Mayawati, apparently bitter over Das's sudden gambit, told reporters. Interestingly, she had been the deserter MP's 'rakhi' sister for the last six years he was an RS MP. With 80 MLAs in the UP Vidhan Sabha, the BSP can nominate two MPs to the Upper House.
"I would not have given him the RS seat even if he gave Rs200 crore. BSP never sends 'poonjipatis' (businessmen) to RS. These seats are reserved for those who have served the party selflessly for long," she said.
Seeing her raised brow, none of the reporters dared to ask her how she had herself nominated this businessman (i.e. Das) to the Upper House in 2008.
"Behnji herself got me to join the BSP and now she is leveling baseless allegations that I offered her crores of rupees for the RS ticket," Akhilesh Das told dna. "I met her in 2008 after she called me thrice. She herself offered me the Lok Sabha ticket from Lucknow. When I said there was no chance of my victory as BSP has no votebank in urban areas, she offered me a Rajya Sabha seat, saying I would remain an MP in any case," he explained.
Das also leveled serious allegations regarding the play of green bags in the BSP. "You know it better than me how tickets are sold in this party and who sells it," he remarked. "I don't want to say much against my elder sister, but as national general secretary of the BSP till just two days ago, I know that in the UP Assembly election, each candidate for reserved seats had to deposit Rs50 lakh. For a general seat, it was Rs1 crore. People who have deposited the money told me this," he said.
Das said all senior office-bearers, former ministers, MPs and MLAs had deposited Rs 10 lakh each for the recent Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections on Mayawati's stern diktat.
"If Behnji continues to function like this, the BSP will get a zero in the coming UP Assembly election, too," Das said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}