R B SINGH

LUCKNOW, JULY 21: IN a significant development, Bahujan Samaj Party vice-president Mayawati today expelled three veteran MLAs - Barkhu Ramm Verma, R.K.Chaudhary and Krishna Pal Singh - from the party for deviating from the party stand on the issue of reservation within reservation for Backwards and Dalits. With this move, Mayawati has purged known loyalists of the party president, Kanshi Ram. There are other Kanshi Ram loyalists on her ''hit list'', a party leader said on the condition of anonymity.

Announcing her decision at a press conference, Mayawati declared that ''others who dare to differ from the party stand will meet the same fate.'' How can any MLA suggest to her to follow the Samajwadi Party tack and oppose reservation within reservation, she asked, adding that this should serve as lesson to other party leaders.

Denying the expelled leaders had mass support, she said their expulsion would not affect the party's poll prospects at all. ''Once out of the party their political career would be ruined. How can a leader like Barkhu Ram Verma who won by just 198 votes in the last Assembly elections be called a popular leader,'' she asked.

Asked to comment, Barkhu Ram Verma and R.K.Choudhary, who were at Mayawati's residence when she announced their expulsion, said, ''No comments.'' Stating that the BSP was not a party but a mission, Mayawati said that it had been floated to continue the work of leaders like Baba Saheb Ambedkar for the uplift of the downtrodden.

She said that her party has always been in favour of reservation for the Most Backward Castes and the Most Dalits and efforts in this direction were made when her party was in power in 1995 and 1997.