In the run up to the UP elections, Mayawati is cracking down on so called corrupt ministers and sacked 21 ministers including Avdesh Verma in the last six months.
Fighting a huge anti-incumbency, Mayawati has sacked 27 out of 52 ministers in the last five years, which is more than 50 per cent of her total Cabinet since the government formation in 2007.
As the BSP finalises tickets, more than 100 of her sitting MLAs are likely to get the boot.
In anticipation, her MPs and MLAs are switching sides. Avdesh Verma may now contest on BJP ticket, while others like Rajya Sabha member Naresh Agarwal have joined the Samajwadi Party after his son Nitin was denied ticked by the BSP.
"We do not depend on anyone for nominations. People in my constituency are with us," said former BSP MP Naresh Agarwal.
Reacting on Mayawati's minister sacking spree, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi said, "She has sacked ministers who have indulged in corrupt practices for four and a half years, and given their portfolio to another corrupt minister".
But turncoats are no less a problem for Mulayam either. Rasheed Massood, an MP and party's Muslim face in the west has already been weaned away by the Congress, and to add to SP's woes, the Congress has fielded at least two dozen Yadav's and other OBCs to damage Mulayam's backward vote bank.
Most of these SP turncoats are either former MLAs or MPs and are local strongmen who laud over their own personal vote banks in their respective constituencies.
It's an electoral battle where no party is leaving a stone unturned. Poaching of dissidents is being aggressively perused as every seat matters in a multi-polar polity.
Moreover, the results of UP elections will well determine the course of national politics in the run-up to the 2014 general elections.
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