Giving a big jolt to Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, trade leader and Rajya Sabha member Banwari Lal Kanchal resigned from the party to join the Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday.
Kanchal made this announcement in the presence of BSP supremo Mayawati. The president of UP Udyog Vyapar Pratinidhi Mandal, the biggest body of traders in the state, has also resigned from the Rajya Sabha.
Making the announcement at the residence of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, Kanchal said that from now onwards he, along with the entire trader community of UP, would work to strengthen the BSP. He said that in Mayawati’s regime, the trader community was safe and secure and this was one of the reasons he decided to join the BSP.
A visibly pleased Mayawati said that Kanchal had joined the BSP on his own and to work fully for the party, he has decided to resign from the Rajya Sabha also.
She said Kanchal had joined the party to further strengthen her party’s base among the Bania community and traders. Kanchal too said that the BSP was the only party which looked after the interest of ‘Sarva Samaj (all communities)’ and that was why people of all the sections of the society were joining it.
It may be mentioned that Kanchal’s arch rival in the trader politics in UP, Akhil Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal led by Sandeep Bansal, had already come under the BSP fold. With the induction of Kanchal, Mayawati’s BSP has become the first party which has all the major traders’ outfits with it.