Himachal BSP chief resigns ahead of polls

Dec 17, 2007, 12:18 GMT

Shimla, Dec 17 (IANS) The Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) received a setback Monday when its Himachal Pradesh unit president Balwant Singh resigned barely two days before the final phase of the state assembly elections.

The fledgling BSP was hoping to make a dent into the vote banks of the ruling Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by contesting all 68 seats.

'I have resigned as BSP Himachal Pradesh unit president today due to irregularities in the party funds committed by the BSP's state convenor Vijay Singh Mankotia and allotment of assembly tickets,' Singh said here.

Mankotia, who was expelled from the Congress, had been projected as the BSP's chief ministerial candidate.

'I have been serving the party for years but the senior party leaders chose to allot tickets to mainly BJP and Congress rebels instead of deserving party leaders. As a result, we may not end up winning even a couple of seats,' he told reporters.

'Even though huge money and resources have been released by the high command, they haven't reached us. So, it has become very difficult to run the election campaign,' Singh said.

BSP chief Mayawati has been holding rallies in the state for the past few days.

With Singh's resignation, the Congress and the BJP will be relieved, as they had feared the party would cut into their votes.

Himachal Pradesh politics is dominated by only two parties, the Congress and BJP, which have been ruling the state in turn since 1990.

The second and last phase of polling for 65 assembly seats will take place Wednesday. Counting is on Dec 28.

Polling for the three tribal seats of Bharmaur, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur took place Nov 14.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service