BSP vice president likely to be Mayawati’s heir

WHO'S NEXT: An intense debate about Mayawati's successor raged in political circles since she told a public rally that there was a conspiracy to assassinate her.

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

Top Headlines

Top Videos

Most Popular

• HC bars security forces from leaving Shopian 

• Dehradun cops accused of killing man to win medals 

• CPI-M may decide feuding Kerala leaders' fate 

• CM helpless, admits Maoists extort Rs 300 cr annually 

• Bandh call by Hindu outfit gets mixed response in Mysore 

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• Mamata's Budget Express | Mamata Exclusive | Rail Budget  

• Top bosses fly high as AI struggles to survive 

• 10 years of Kargil, heroes recall the war | Pay Tribute 

• Cabinet split over order legalising homosexuality  

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• Watch: Lalu determined to derail Mamata express 

• Praful Patel rules out lay-offs in Air India 

• Top bosses fly high as AI struggles to survive 

• Air India top brass warns employees against strike 

• Watch: Lalu determined to derail Mamata express 

• I have done everything for all the states: Mamata 

• Watch: Aam aadmi rates Rail Budget 2009 

• Cabinet split over order legalising homosexuality  

• For Delhi Daredevils fans it's football in off season 

• Time for Mamata to walk the Budget talk 

• Sarah Palin to step down as Alaska governor: Report  

• CM helpless, admits Maoists extort Rs 300 cr annually 

• Los Angeles officials brace for Jackson memorial 

• HC bars security forces from leaving Shopian 

• North Korea fires two more missiles again 

• 10 years of Kargil, heroes recall the war 

• Fans overlook Michael Jackson's dark side 

• Vikram Seth on A Suitable Girl, homsexuality 

• CPI-M may decide feuding Kerala leaders' fate 

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

Lucknow: Who is Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's heir apparent? If party sources are to be believed, it is none other than its low profile vice president Rajaram.

An intense debate about Mayawati's successor has been raging in political circles since she told a public rally on August 9 that there was a conspiracy to assassinate her.

But she told her supporters not to worry, saying her successor had been chosen and that the party would run as usual.

BSP sources say that the only likely person to take over the leadership of the party is the 35-year-old Rajaram.

Rajaram, presently the party's Madhya Pradesh affairs in-charge, is the only one in the party to don the post of vice president. It is a post Mayawati held when her mentor and BSP founder leader Kanshi Ram was president.

Five feet, eight inches tall, the fair and handsome Rajaram was once the BSP's Delhi unit secretary. He is presently a member of the Uttar Pradesh legislative council. His term expires next year.

Rajaram is arguably the only person in the party who is part of the legacy of the late Kanshi Ram. "He is one of very few people of the Kanshi Ram era who is with Mayawati today. Others joined BSP later," a party source told IANS.

Mayawati had also told the Lucknow rally that she had handed over a sealed envelope, containing the name of her successor, to two of her confidants.

She said, "He is 18 to 20 years younger to me, is not from my family and he is from my chamar community. What is he and where he stays, I have given everything in the letter in the sealed envelope."

The description fits Rajaram to a T.

Mayawati was born in 1956, and Rajaram is younger by as many years as she said. He does belong to her community, and he is not from her family.

"Add all this to the fact that he is the vice president of the BSP, a post held by Mayawati once," said a party leader on condition of anonymity.

Rajaram belongs to Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh and graduated in law from Varanasi. His father was murdered when he was a child and he came in contact with Bali Ram, who became a MP from Azamgarh district.

"Through Bali Ram, he came in contact with Kanshi Ram," said a BSP source. "Rajaram wanted to pursue further studies but joined the BSP full time on the advice of Kanshi Ram."