BSP will go alone if not offered ‘respectable share’ Says Mayawati
LUCKNOW : The Bahujan Samaj Party will be compelled to go it alone if it does not get a “respectable” number of seats in the anti-BJP alliance that is shaping up before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said on Sunday.
BSP supremo Mayawati seemed to put proposed ‘Mahagathbandhan’ of opposition parties on notice as she warned that the party would contest 2019 Lok Sabha elections alone in case it is not offered ‘respectable share’ of seats. “Our party is not against the alliance, but our stand is very clear that we will ally with a political party only if we get a respectable share of seats. Otherwise, our party feels it better to contest the elections alone,” she said. “We will agree to alliance anywhere and in any election only when we get a respectable share of seats, otherwise BSP will contest alone,” Mayawati told reporters in Lucknow.
Accusing the BJP of resorting to different diversionary tactics as 2019 Lok Sabha elections are approaching, Mayawati said the saffron party is making lucrative announcements and not leaving any stone unturned to derive advantage from the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
BJP Governments in states and in the Centre are trying to hide their failures by diversionary tactics. They have not fulfilled their election promises. “People of the country know that the campaign undertaken by the BJP and the RSS in the name of Vajpayee is an attempt to hide its failures.
Mayawati was speaking to reporters here after she moved into her new residence vacating her sprawling bungalow on Supreme Court orders. In a virtual snub to Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad, Mayawati denied any association with him, days after he had claimed that he and his “bua” (aunt) Mayawati have the “same blood”.
The Bhim Army was set up around three years ago in Saharanpur and has gained considerable popularity among members of the Scheduled Castes. “Some people in order to realise their vested political interests, some in their defence, while some in order to look young are trying to forge different relationships such as brother-sister and bua-bhatija (aunt and nephew) with me,” Mayawati said. “I have no relation with such people.
Her comments came against the backdrop of the Bhim Army founder, who is also known as “Ravan”, reportedly claiming that, “We (he and Mayawati) both have the same blood. She may have some issues with me, I have none with her. It is not in my values to speak ill of my ‘bua’ (aunt). Our only aim is to defeat the BJP.”
On the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the upcoming Assembly elections in certain States, Ms. Mayawati said, the effort of the Opposition parties will be to stop the BJP from coming to power at any cost. Mayawati targeted the BJP claiming that its governments in the Centre and States had “worsened” the condition of the people by showing them false dreams. “These governments have done no good to people barring a few industrialists,” she alleged adding that “both the NDA and the previous UPA governments were equally responsible for shielding the corrupt”.
Accusing the BJP of resorting to “diversionary tactics” as Lok Sabha elections were approaching, Ms. Mayawati said the saffron party was not leaving any stone upturned to “derive advantage from the demise of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee”. The people of the country now understand that none of the election promises made in 2014 Lok Sabha elections was fulfilled, she said.
Mayawati also alleged that the Centre was not able to come clean on the Rafale deal. Referring to demonetisation, she said it was done in an unplanned manner leading to a “financial emergency”. The BJP government should now at least tender an apology over the “national tragedy”, she said.
On the possibility of misuse of SC/ST Act, Ms. Mayawati said, “The BSP is of the view that if the current state governments follow the ‘Sarvajan Hitay, Sarvajan Sukhay’ policy of her party, there will be no misuse of this law.”( With Agency Inputs ).
