As SP expels 3 MLAs, what lies beneath: A chief whip who turned, an RS upset by BJP

Indian Express

10 hours ago

The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday expelled three of its MLAs for allegedly endorsing 'communal, divisive, and negative ideologies' that go against the party's principles.
Those expelled from the party are Abhay Singh (MLA from Gosainganj), Rakesh Pratap Singh (Gauriganj) and former chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey (Unchahar), the SP said in an official statement shared on its social media handles.
These three MLAs were among seven from the party who had cross-voted in Uttar Pradesh's Rajya Sabha polls in February 2024, causing one of the three candidates put up by the SP to lose.
While the BJP had been expected to win seven seats as per its numbers in the UP Assembly, the SP should have got three. However, the BJP put up a surprise eighth candidate, forcing a contest. In the end, while all eight candidates of the BJP won, only two of the SP pulled through, with retired bureaucrat and former UP chief secretary Alok Ranjan losing.
All nine MLAs of BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had voted in favour of the BJP''s eighth candidate, Sanjay Seth. The lone BSP MLA, Uma Shankar Singh, also voted for Seth.
As the numbers in the House swayed, the BJP had brought in one of its ailing MLAs, Neel Ratan Patel, in an ambulance to vote.
The signs as to how the day would proceed came early on, when SP chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey resigned just before going in to vote. A close aide of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Pandey had been picked ahead of senior leaders for the post.
Then, SP MLAs Rakesh Pratap Singh and Abhay Singh, whose influence extends to the parliamentary constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli, declared that they would go with their 'antaratma ki awaaz (inner voice)' in voting, and that 'Lord Ram' was in their 'heart'.
Four other SP MLAs gave a hint of their voting preference, arriving at the Assembly premises along with the BJP candidates, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak and BJP state president Chaudhary Bhupendra Singh, like their fellow 'rebels'.
A clearly upset Akhilesh accused the BJP of 'luring' MLAs and of not stopping at anything to win. 'The BJP can try any trick to win elections, offer any kind of assurances,' the SP chief said, before going to cast his vote.
While he did not know about the 'inner voice' of any one, he knew what was being offered, he added. 'Someone wants security, someone may have been threatened. We are hearing talk of 'packages' offered… Those who have gone, they did not have the courage to stand up to the government,' Akhilesh said, promising action against those who cross-voted at the time.
Within hours, the name plate identifying Manoj Pandey as SP's chief whip had been removed from the party's office on the Vidhan Sabha premises. A three-time MLA from Unchahar Assembly constituency of Raebareli, he won the past two times defeating BJP candidates in direct fights. The 57-year-old was seen as the SP's Brahmin face.
Rakesh Pratap, the SP MLA from Gauriganj, which falls under the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency, had told reporters: 'I must vote as per my conscience.' On a question about the Ram Temple and whether that was a factor, he said: 'Ram kan-kan mein hain (Lord Ram is everywhere).'
Later, after the voting was complete, Rakesh Pratap had criticised the SP's functioning, claiming that instead of long-time workers, outsiders were being rewarded. He said its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls time as well as earlier showed this clearly, hinting at both actor-politician Jaya Bachchan (who won) and Alok Ranjan (who lost).
A three-term MLA, the 48-year-old Rakesh Pratap was seen as close to Akhilesh. Party sources said that he had, however, been sulking for some time, especially after Swami Prasad Maurya joined the SP from the BSP. He publicly criticised Maurya last year for speaking against 'Sanatan Dharma'. Ironically, Maurya too has left the SP now.
Abhay Singh, the SP MLA from Goshaiganj in Ayodhya parliamentary seat, also invoked Ram. 'Bhagwan Ram hamare aaradhya hain, hum to unhi ke kul khandan ke hain (Ram is our Lord, we are from his own family).'
A two-term MLA, the 49-year-old Abhay Singh is seen as a bahubali and was once close to muscleman-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. Some SP leaders had expressed apprehensions about him as he had close ties with Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who is believed to have convinced Abhay to vote for the BJP. Raja Bhaiya earlier offered the BJP his support.
The other SP leaders who were believed to have cross-voted include Vinod Chaturvedi, the MLA from Kalpi in Bundelkhand; Rakesh Pandey, the MLA from Ambedkarnagar and the father of BSP MP Ritesh Pandey, who just joined the BJP; Pooja Pal, the MLA from Chail and the wife of slain gangster-politician Raju Pal.
The seventh SP MLA who is said to have voted for the BJP is Jatav leader Ashutosh Maurya, a three-time MLA from Bisauli reserved seat in Badaun.
The SP's winning candidates included actor-politician Jaya Bachchan and Dalit leader Ramji Lal Suman. The BJP's new Rajya Sabha members from UP included R P N Singh (ex-Congress Union minister); Amarpal Maurya (general secretary of BJP); Sangeeta Balwant (former minister); Sudhanshu Trivedi (spokesperson); Sadhna Singh (ex-MLA); Naveen Jain (former Agra mayor); Chaudhary Tejveer Singh (former MP) and Sanjay Seth (businessman-turned-politician and the surprise 8th candidate by the BJP).