Mayawati’s BSP draws a blank, loses its relevance in UP
Lucknow, Jun 4: From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led BSP drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
The BSP’s selection of candidates reflected its attempt to doom the chances of the opposition grouping, but the Samajwadi Party emerging as the single largest party in the state and the Congress doing better in partnership with it show that Mayawati's factor has lost its electoral charm.
After drawing a blank in the 2014 general elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won a decent 10 of the 38 seats that it contested under the alliance.
Emerging as the second-largest party, it polled over 19 per cent votes which has remained loyal to Mayawati almost all through, thereby maintaining her relevance in UP's electoral politics, especially as it has been considered a transferable vote.
This time round, the BSP chief faces an uphill task as she has not only announced of going solo in the coming polls, but also the fact that some of her MPs have either drifted away or shown signs of it. Besides, the political opponents have also branded Mayawati's party as the 'B' team of the saffron party based on the public stand taken by her on various issues. In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, her lone MLA Uma Shankar Singh's vote for the BJP further put a stamp on the accusations.
The BSP's core Dalit vote bank makes it relevant in the electoral politics in the state which sends maximum 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. The Dalits constitute over 20 per cent of UP electorates. The BJP is trying to neutralise her influence by making a fellow Dalit Baby Rani Maurya a senior minister in the state and Akhilesh Yadav roping in Chandra Sekhar Azad "Ravan" to diminish Mayawati's political influences.
The results show Mayawati's BSP has lost its relevance. Mayawati has been neither a constituent of the ruling NDA alliance nor of the opposition INDIA coalition and already decided to go alone in the upcoming polls.
The majority of its 10 MPs have either moved to the BJP or some to the SP in the current polls. The BSP supremo fielded new faces this time. BSP MP Ritesh Pandey (Ambedkarnagar) has already joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Delhi in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary and party's in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Baijayant Panda.
In his resignation letter to Mayawati, Pandey alleged that it had been a long time since he had been called to attend party meetings and has also not been able to establish any kind of a dialogue with the leadership despite him trying to meet Mayawati and other senior leaders. With Pandey joining the BJP, four out of ten Lok Sabha MPs have either switched sides or made it clear that they plan to do so.
Earlier this month, the SP had announced Afzal Ansari, BSP MP from Ghazipur, as its candidate from the seat for the Lok Sabha polls.
Danish Ali, BSP MP from Amroha, was suspended last year by Mayawati for speaking in favour of TMC MP Mahua Moitra.
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Bank account in Ramgarh tracked for fraudulent fund transactions across 24 states, 4 arrested
Ramgarh (Jharkhand) (PTI): Jharkhand police on Thursday said it has unearthed a network of interstate cyber frauds and arrested four miscreants for fraudulent transactions through a bank account in Ramgarh district after complaints of 274 suspected transactions in 24 states.
The states where complaints for fraudulent transactions were registered included Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
The action followed inputs received through 'Samanvaya portal', a centralised, web-based platform launched by the Union Home Ministry to curb cybercrime.
"We arrested four cyber miscreants after a current account with Kuju (Ramgarh) branch of the State Bank of India was found to have registered suspected financial transactions in 24 states with the help of the Pratibimba portal of the Home Ministry through the Samanvaya portal," Ramgarh Superintendent of Police Mukesh Kumar Lunayat said.
During the probe, police found that the account was opened under the MSME Udyam Registration scheme in the name of Shree Ganesh Enterprises, he said.
The account had been linked to as many as 274 complaints from different states related to cyber fraud and illegal fund transfers.
The registered proprietors of the enterprise were identified as Rahul Gupta (37), Ravi Kumar Verma (34), and Ajay Sharma (33), all residents of Ramgarh district, a statement from the Ramgarh police said.
During interrogation, Rahul Gupta and Ravi Kumar Verma revealed that they had opened multiple current accounts at the behest of Ritesh Agrawal alias Munna (40) and Sonu Kumar Jha (34).
They admitted receiving Rs 1.2 lakh in exchange for facilitating the opening of these accounts.
"The accused further confessed to sharing OTPs, activating mobile banking services, and handing over control of the accounts to the main operators through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. These accounts were then allegedly used to route fraudulent transactions.
Police said mobile data analysis of the accused led to the recovery of crucial digital evidence, including details of SIM cards, bank accounts, passbooks, ATM cards, QR code scanners, Aadhaar cards, and PAN cards shared through messaging platforms.
A total of four accused have been arrested so far and sent to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at the Cyber Crime Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023 and Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
