Not a file came to my table: Saini who quit as UP minister recently

More than a dozen BJP MLAs, including the three ministers, have joined the SP after poll dates for UP were announced. Most of them were from the OBC or SC communities. Some of them were worried BJP may deny tickets based on ground reports. But the ministers were guided by other considerations.

Saini has been an MLA four times and was a cabinet minister from 2002 to 2007. When the BJP won in 2017, Saini expected a Cabinet rank. “When I was on the stage for the swearing-in ceremony, I saw my name in the minister of state list. I immediately registered my protest. I was told it was an error and I would be upgraded as Cabinet minister in 10 to 15 days,” Saini told ET. The upgrade never happened. Saini got independent charge of Ayush ministry and was MoS of food security and drug administration.

“For the last three years, not a single file came to my table. No officer in the food security and drug administration department picked my call either. I was not even authorised to answer questions in the assembly. Jal Shakti minister Mahendra Singh replied to questions in the assembly.” Saini said he had raised the issues several times with the chief minister and UP BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal. “I decided that even if I sit in opposition, I will serve my people better,” he said.

Three-term parliamentarian Dara Singh Chauhan joined BJP in 2015. He was made BJP OBC Morcha president after he organised a rally of Backwards in Azamgarh. In 2017, he became a minister in the Yogi government after winning the Madhuban seat. “I am a leader of Backwards and downtrodden. My entire political capital is their support. Even after becoming the OBC Morcha president, I had no power to constitute its national executive committee. It was a ceremonial post with no power,” Chauhan told ET. Chauhan said he was unable to do anything for his voters and Backwards at large. “The state government is recruiting people in colleges violating reservation norms for the OBCs and SCs/STs. My ideology is to serve my people because they have made me a leader. If I am not able to do that, there is no point being there,” he said.

BJP insiders, however, told ET that Chauhan was willing to change his seat from Madhuban to Ghoshi but the party was against it. “In 2017, I didn’t want to contest the assembly election as I was an MP previously. But the party asked me to contest and I won a seat which BJP had never won. I know my worth,” he said.

Maurya, who orchestrated the series of exits from BJP, is the senior-most of them. “How did the BJP win in 2017. It was leaders like me who came with their supporters and vote base in the party. It ended BJP’s 14 year-exile in the state. The BJP should have upheld my honour,” Maurya told ET. Maurya says that since he was senior and upfront in raising issues, he didn’t face situations like Saini and Chauhan. “But I quit for the larger Backward and Dalit population, who the BJP thinks only deserve free rations. They don’t want them to become leaders or get jobs,” he alleged.

BJP insiders, however, said Maurya sought a ticket for his son. “Though I left the party before the ticket distribution, what’s the harm even if it was the case? I can name several BJP leaders whose family members will get party tickets,” he said. Among the others, Mukesh Verma, Avtar Singh Bhadana and Madhuri Verma are known to have switched sides after they realised that they wouldn’t get BJP tickets.