Having faced a lot of flak for fund collection on her birthday,which falls on January 15,UP Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday asked BSP functionaries to henceforth observe it as Jan Kalyankari Diwas and organise welfare activities for the poor,widows and the physically challenged on the day. Earlier,the day used to be observed as Arthik Sahyog Diwas with party functionaries being given targets for fund collection. Last year,M K Gupta,a PWD engineer at Auraiya,was killed when he allegedly failed to meet local BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwaris demand for funds for Mayawatis birthday. Among the other accused in the case are MLAs wife Vibha,who was president of the local civic body,and Yogrendra Dohrem,the then district BSP president. In a meeting with partys top functionaries,including coordinators from various states and zonal coordinators from UP,Mayawati reportedly apprised them of the decision for her 54th birthday celebrations. The UP CM is also said to have tried to distance herself from the practice of fund collection on her birthday,saying it started during the days of BSP founder Kanshi Ram.She accused the Congress,BJP and other parties for politicising the tradition of observing her birthday as Arthik Sahyog Diwas,a party leader said. Mayawati asked her party functionaries to launch a membership drive next month. The membership drive is only for party functionaries; we will get detailed directions in this regard, said a partys state coordinator.
