LUCKNOW, MAY 10 :BSP national president and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati rewarded Congress rebel Akhilesh Das who formally joined the BSP here on Saturday.

Mayawati not only made Das national general secretary of the BSP, she also declared him the party’s Lok Sabha candidate from Lucknow and made him in-charge of this seat.

Das, too, went overboard while praising his new party leader. “If anyone is ethically and morally eligible for heading the country, it is Mayawati,” he said.

“I was a born Congressman and in 47 years of life never switched my loyalties, but now onwards the remaining years of my life will be dedicated to your (Mayawati) service and to the service of the party.”

Generous with adjectives for Mayawati like “param shradheya” and “param sammanit”, Das said, “It is a big day for me when I am joining a mahaan party under the guidance of a leader like Mayawati who has a vishal vyaktitva (great personality).” He said his well-wishers had advised him to join a political party which was moving ahead, taking all communities in its fold, irrespective of caste, creed and class.

A Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Minster of State for Steel at the Centre, Das was shunted out from the Cabinet on April 6. A month later, on May 6, he resigned from both Rajya Sabha membership and from primary membership of the Congress.

Referring to the crowd of Das’ loyals as “BSP followers”, Mayawati said showing faith in BSP’s ideology of “sarvajan sukhay and sarvajan hitay”, Das had joined the BSP along with his followers. “After winning the seat, he will start working towards bringing the Vaish community into the party fold,” she added.

Incidentally, Das, who hails from the Vaish community, always writes his name as Akhilesh Das but on Saturday, he made sure to add suffix “Gupta” which was prominently displayed on the banner.

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