The BSP on Sunday dissolved its Punjab unit in the wake of party’s rout in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state — all BSP candidates even forfeited their security deposits — sparking instant protests from BSP activists.

As general secretary Narender Kashyap said that party supremo Mayawati had decided to disband the state unit but retain state BSP chief Avtar Singh Karimpuri, party workers protested vehemently, chanting anti-Karimpuri slogans, sources said. Kashyap, in-charge of party’s Punjab affairs, was here to attend a meeting to review the party’s performance in the LS polls in the state. He announced that from booth-level committees to the state-level executive body, all units had been disbanded. Party workers protested, however, that it was Karimpuri’s style of functioning that was responsible for the rout of the BSP. Kashyap left the meeting in a huff as protests continued, sources said.