Lucknow, March 15 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Monday said party general secretary Satish Chandra Misra was not going to be in the mainstream of the BSP's political activities, but would head the party's legal cell.

'Satish Misra will henceforth head a new legal cell that we have created in view of the increasing litigation against me and the party. He is being taken away from political work as the legal work is time consuming and requires focused attention,' she said at the party's silver jubilee function here.

However, she added that her intention was not to sideline Misra, her blue-eyed Brahmin mascot. 'The opposition has often misused the media to spread canards that Misra is being marginalized in the party, but that is absolutely baseless and false,' she stressed.

However, unlike her last major rally after she rode on to power in 2007, when Misra was not only seated next to her, but was also asked to address the mammoth gathering, this time there was no chair kept beside her. All ministers and senior leaders including Misra were seated in a row behind her on the dias.