Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08CHENNAI231
2008-07-03 08:33:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Chennai
Cable title:
MAYAWATI GIVES HER PARTY'S NATIONAL SECRETARY THE BOOT
how-toVZCZCXRO9007 RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW DE RUEHCG #0231 1850833 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 030833Z JUL 08 FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1737 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3176 RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS CHENNAI 000231
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IN
SUBJECT: MAYAWATI GIVES HER PARTY'S NATIONAL SECRETARY THE BOOT
REF: CHENNAI 192
UNCLAS CHENNAI 000231
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IN
SUBJECT: MAYAWATI GIVES HER PARTY'S NATIONAL SECRETARY THE BOOT
REF: CHENNAI 192
1. (U) Summary: General Secretary of the Bhujan Samaj Party (BSP)
P.G.R. Sindhia was unceremoniously tossed from his office by party
president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on June 24.
Sindhia's defenestration followed the party's dismal performance in
recently concluded legislative assembly elections in Karnataka,
Sindhia's home state (reftel). According to media reports, Sindhia
now hopes to travel to the United States to campaign among
Indian-American voters for presumptive Democratic Presidential
nominee Barack Obama. Sindhia's position as a non-Dalit leading a
largely Dalit party made him a somewhat anomolous figure, but his
inability to deliver for the BSP on his home turf made him more of a
liability than an asset for Mayawati. End Summary.
Mayawati expels Sindhia from the BSP
--------------
2. (U) Rajya Sabha member and the BSP's National General Secretary
in charge of Karnataka Veer Singh announced on June 24 that he had,
under Mayawati's instructions, removed Sindhia from all party posts.
The BSP's press release stated that Sindhia was "not able to work
in coordination with old office-bearers of the party." Underlining
the secrecy and boldness of the purge, party workers removed
overnight all the furniture from the office rented by Sindhia.
3. (SBU) Sindhia blamed his removal on reports to Mayawati from her
Karnataka observers that he lacked respect for Dalits. Some of our
political contacts in Karnataka attribute Sindhia's removal,
however, to his demonstrated lack of a political base. A
Bangalore-based editor for a major newspaper told us Sindhia's
campaigning for the BSP in the May legislative assembly elections
was, at best, "fitful." The BSP failed to win a single assembly
seat. In fact, the candidate in Sindhia's former district received
a mere 2000 votes and therefore lost his deposit paid to secure a
place on the ballot by failing to secure at least one-sixth of the
votes cast, the ultimate humiliation for a political wannabe.
Hints of cooperation with other parties?
--------------
4. (SBU) The editor also observed that the removal of Sindhia -- a
former Janata Dal Secular (JDS) member --may facilitate BSP-JDS
cooperation in the state. He noted that Sindhia's antipathy towards
former Prime Minister and current JDS leader Deve Gowda and his
family had precluded this possibility earlier. (Comment: Sindhia
departed the JDS formally in December 2007, but was something of a
dissident for a while. His dissatisfaction with the JDS arose
ostensibly because he was unhappy with his secular party's alliance
with the BJP, but possibly because he was not given a state-level
ministerial position in the JDS-BJP coalition government that ruled
Karnataka until October/November 2007. End Comment.) One of Deve
Gowda's sons told us that increased JDS cooperation with Congress
and perhaps even the BSP was a possibility, but added quickly that
"nothing is decided."
Willing to lend a hand to Obama
--------------
5. (SBU) Now bereft of a party, Sindhia told a press conference that
he plans to use some of his free time to travel to the United States
and campaign for Barack Obama. (Note: Sindhia told us in March of
his interest in assisting in the Democratic Party's presidential
campaign by helping the party reach out to Indian-American voters.
End note.) When we spoke with him after the press conference,
however, he made clear that he was unsure about the the exact nature
of his potential involvement in the Obama campaign.
Comment
--------------
6. (SBU) Sindhia's high-level position in the BSP, as a non-Dalit
leading a party of mainly Dalits, was somewhat anamolous, but his
failure to deliver even a modicum of success on his home turf in
Karnataka made him more of a liability than an asset for Mayawati.
The effect on local politics is uncertain, especially since the BSP
fared so poorly in the May elections. Sindhia's removal eliminates
one obstacle preventing closer JDS-BSP cooperation, but since the
JDS is definitely moving closer to the Congress Party in Karnataka,
achieving cooperation among all three parties would go against the
grain of the national trend of the BSP's increasing opposition to
Congress. End Comment.
HOPPER
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IN
SUBJECT: MAYAWATI GIVES HER PARTY'S NATIONAL SECRETARY THE BOOT
REF: CHENNAI 192
1. (U) Summary: General Secretary of the Bhujan Samaj Party (BSP)
P.G.R. Sindhia was unceremoniously tossed from his office by party
president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on June 24.
Sindhia's defenestration followed the party's dismal performance in
recently concluded legislative assembly elections in Karnataka,
Sindhia's home state (reftel). According to media reports, Sindhia
now hopes to travel to the United States to campaign among
Indian-American voters for presumptive Democratic Presidential
nominee Barack Obama. Sindhia's position as a non-Dalit leading a
largely Dalit party made him a somewhat anomolous figure, but his
inability to deliver for the BSP on his home turf made him more of a
liability than an asset for Mayawati. End Summary.
Mayawati expels Sindhia from the BSP
--------------
2. (U) Rajya Sabha member and the BSP's National General Secretary
in charge of Karnataka Veer Singh announced on June 24 that he had,
under Mayawati's instructions, removed Sindhia from all party posts.
The BSP's press release stated that Sindhia was "not able to work
in coordination with old office-bearers of the party." Underlining
the secrecy and boldness of the purge, party workers removed
overnight all the furniture from the office rented by Sindhia.
3. (SBU) Sindhia blamed his removal on reports to Mayawati from her
Karnataka observers that he lacked respect for Dalits. Some of our
political contacts in Karnataka attribute Sindhia's removal,
however, to his demonstrated lack of a political base. A
Bangalore-based editor for a major newspaper told us Sindhia's
campaigning for the BSP in the May legislative assembly elections
was, at best, "fitful." The BSP failed to win a single assembly
seat. In fact, the candidate in Sindhia's former district received
a mere 2000 votes and therefore lost his deposit paid to secure a
place on the ballot by failing to secure at least one-sixth of the
votes cast, the ultimate humiliation for a political wannabe.
Hints of cooperation with other parties?
--------------
4. (SBU) The editor also observed that the removal of Sindhia -- a
former Janata Dal Secular (JDS) member --may facilitate BSP-JDS
cooperation in the state. He noted that Sindhia's antipathy towards
former Prime Minister and current JDS leader Deve Gowda and his
family had precluded this possibility earlier. (Comment: Sindhia
departed the JDS formally in December 2007, but was something of a
dissident for a while. His dissatisfaction with the JDS arose
ostensibly because he was unhappy with his secular party's alliance
with the BJP, but possibly because he was not given a state-level
ministerial position in the JDS-BJP coalition government that ruled
Karnataka until October/November 2007. End Comment.) One of Deve
Gowda's sons told us that increased JDS cooperation with Congress
and perhaps even the BSP was a possibility, but added quickly that
"nothing is decided."
Willing to lend a hand to Obama
--------------
5. (SBU) Now bereft of a party, Sindhia told a press conference that
he plans to use some of his free time to travel to the United States
and campaign for Barack Obama. (Note: Sindhia told us in March of
his interest in assisting in the Democratic Party's presidential
campaign by helping the party reach out to Indian-American voters.
End note.) When we spoke with him after the press conference,
however, he made clear that he was unsure about the the exact nature
of his potential involvement in the Obama campaign.
Comment
--------------
6. (SBU) Sindhia's high-level position in the BSP, as a non-Dalit
leading a party of mainly Dalits, was somewhat anamolous, but his
failure to deliver even a modicum of success on his home turf in
Karnataka made him more of a liability than an asset for Mayawati.
The effect on local politics is uncertain, especially since the BSP
fared so poorly in the May elections. Sindhia's removal eliminates
one obstacle preventing closer JDS-BSP cooperation, but since the
JDS is definitely moving closer to the Congress Party in Karnataka,
achieving cooperation among all three parties would go against the
grain of the national trend of the BSP's increasing opposition to
Congress. End Comment.
HOPPER