Political Upheaval: Ritesh Pandey Leaves BSP To Join BJP After Seeing Prime Minister Modi, To Which Mayawati Retaliates

Following many encounters with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over lunch in the Parliament cafeteria with seven other opposition MPs, Ritesh Pandey declared his intention to leave the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), headed by Mayawati.

On Sunday, he became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Ritesh Pandey Leaves BSP and Joins BJP
Pandey was greeted by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and other party officials, Baijayant Jay Panda, Tarun Chugh, and Bhupendra Singh, among others, upon being admitted into the BJP. Pandey served as the Lok Sabha representative for Ambedkar Nagar.

Pandey posted his resignation letter on the microblogging platform X, which was once known as Twitter.

Pandey believed that the party no longer needed his skills, thus he resigned as the principal member of the party. He said that neither the party head, Mayawati, nor the party had summoned him to any meetings or had talked to him for a long time. Pandey said that he had tried to contact Mayawati and the party’s upper echelons but had received no reply.

Pandey continued to interact with members and supporters of different political parties in his district and took part in a range of community events during this time. As so, he came to the conclusion that his presence and services were not needed by the party. Recognizing the emotional challenge of this choice, Pandey chose to step down as the party’s main member after feeling he had no other option. He asked Mayawati to accept his resignation even more.

Mayawati’s reaction to the Jump by Ritesh
In response to Pandey’s assertions, BSP president Mayawati said that the party was dedicated to the principles of BR Ambedkar, an anti-Dalit symbol. She underlined how the party was different from other capitalist parties in terms of doctrine, working procedures, and the way candidates are chosen.

She encouraged BSP MPs to consider if they had sufficiently served the people in their areas, a subtly critical remark aimed at Pandey. Mayawati asked whether they gave grassroots work enough of their attention. She went on to stress the need of putting the party’s interests ahead of personal ones and alluded to the possibility that Pandey’s prospects of winning a BSP election ticket may have been compromised if he had stuck to his present course of action.

Pandey made his decision soon after he and seven other opposition MPs met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for lunch in the Parliament cafeteria. Using X, Pandey posted pictures from the event, thanking Prime Minister Modi for the invitation and emphasizing their conversation about using knowledge from the 2001 Bhuj earthquake to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.