From Kanshiram's ward to Mayawati's right hand to a man without a party
Sanjay Singh Posted online: Wed Nov 30 2011, 03:26 hrs
Lucknow : Till his exit from the Uttar Pradesh cabinet this year, Babu
Singh Kushwaha was known as "the most trusted lieutenant" of Chief
Minister Mayawati, having reached that position in the course of a
two-decade political career that had begun with working alongside BSP
founder Kanshiram.
The former family welfare minister was asked to resign in April after
financial irregularities in the implementation of NRHM schemes
surfaced during the investigation into the murder of Lucknow's chief
medical officer (CMO) Dr B P Singh. Two CMOs, the other being Dr Vinod
Arya, were shot dead during Kushwaha's tenure, while arrested deputy
CMO Y S Sachan was found dead in Lucknow jail.
Kushwaha's fall from grace was completed on Monday when the BSP
expelled him. Signs of an imminent parting had come days earlier, when
he had written to Mayawati saying he was facing a threat to his life
from the government's three most powerful men — PWD Minister
Naseemuddin Siddiqui, cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and
principal secretary (home and appointments) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur.
Born on May 7, 1966, at Pakhrauli, Banda district, Kushwaha used to
work with villagers, helping them get the benefits of schemes under a
special component plan, a party source there said. In the early 1990s
he got close to Kanshiram through his namesake Babu Lal Kushwaha, then
the BSP's OBC face in Banda. "Kanshiram was spending a lot of his time
in Banda, seeking to bring OBCs and Dalits on the same political
platform. Kanshiram wanted Babu Lal Kushwaha to serve the party in
other parts of the state too. Around 1993, he got Babu Singh appointed
district president in place of Babu Lal," the source said.
Later, Kanshiram sent Kushwaha, Gaya Charan Dinkar and Siddiqui to
work in western UP, where Mayawati was handling the party's affairs.
"Kushwaha, Siddiqui and Dinkar got an opportunity to work directly
under Mayawati," the source said. Today, Siddiqui is considered the
most powerful man in the government while Dinakar is BSP coordinator.
The shift also brought Kushwaha closer to the BSP's central unit in
New Delhi. "He became a party whole-timer and spent a lot of time at
the central office. Later, Mayawati had him shifted to Lucknow. He was
devoted to her and emerged her most trusted lieutenant at the very
beginning of their association," another source said.
But over the years, a rivalry brewed between Kushwaha and Siddiqui,
also from Banda. "Both wanted to win Mayawati's favour. Kushwaha
preferred to be a 'backroom boy' while Siddiqui became the man on the
field," the source added.
Kushwaha's rise was at its sharpest since 2002, when he became a
minister for the first time, given Mines and Minerals. In 2007, when
the BSP formed a government with a full majority, he was given
Panchayati Raj too, allotted a bungalow next to the Chief Minister's
official residence, and considered the link between her and party
MLAs. In the Lok Sabha elections, when he was tasked to collect
feedback from various constituencies and pass it on to the CM, "his
words were considered to be those of the CM herself".
Setbacks suffered in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections put many leaders
under fire from Mayawati, but not Kushwaha who got Family Welfare and
Cooperatives besides the earlier portfolios. By then the BSP's
national general secretary, he would sit in the party's state office
regularly to attend to problems of party leaders, including MPs, MLAs
and MLCs. It was Kushwaha who received the resignation letters from
about 100 chairmen and directors of various boards and corporations
following the Lok Sabha poll performance.
The turnaround came in April. Following his resignation as minister,
Kushwaha was suddenly ousted from the chief minister's inner circle.
Although the BSP's latest press release confirmed he had been asked to
resign his posts, the party had then tried to ensure a respectable
exit, with the government claiming he had resigned owning moral
responsibility. Besides, Kushwaha still stayed in the ministerial
bungalow next to Mayawati's residence — till his latest letter to her.
Kushwaha has not uttered a word after his expulsion. The BSP has
charged him with hobnobbing with the Congress to escape the CBI probe
into irregularities in the NRHM. However, Rahul Gandhi sought to link
Kushwaha with the alleged loot of NRHM funds. "When the CBI began the
probe, one minister came out to say that there is a threat to his
life," Rahul said recently.
Yet many BSP leaders still feel Kushwaha would work for the Congress
despite Rahul's denunciation. "In politics, one can work for a party
even from outside. Who has stopped him from becoming a sympathiser of
the Congress in UP? He suits their political interests," a BSP leader
said.
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