Lucknow: BSP would not take support of BJP or NDA to form government at the Centre, Mayawati said on Saturday. Asserting that her party will emerge as new “balance of power” in Delhi, the BSP supremo clarified that she will not join any front and her numbers will be enough to galvanise secular forces around her.
“It is now clear that no political party will be able to form government on its own at the Centre. BSP will emerge as a new balance of power on the basis of seats garnered in the Uttar Pradesh alone…I want to clarify that BSP will not take support of either BJP or NDA, if needed, to form government,” she told reporters here.
Asked if UPA or Congress offered her to become the prime minister, the 58-year-old Dalit leader said, “I cannot reveal our future strategy. Leave something for the results as well.”
Attacking the “caste-based politics” of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, she said, “It is now clear that Narendra Modi was not born in a backward caste. This was the reason that despite my repeated questions, he did not disclose his true caste. It is now exposed that it was an effort to trick voters in his favour.”
Expressing apprehensions of last minute manipulations during last phase of polling on May 12 and counting, Mayawati asked the Election Commission to deploy large number of central forces to ensure free and fair polling and counting.
She also asked the EC to stop roadshows of Modi, Aam Admi Party and Congress, using cadres brought from “outside” as they are causing inconvenience to local people and give an impression of overwhelming support in favour of their candidate.
Taking a dig at Modi’s slogan that Ganga has called him to contest from Varanasi, Mayawati asked, “It is hard to digest that Mother Ganga will send away BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi to welcome person like Modi. It exposes that he did not spare even Mother Ganga in lying.”
The Dalit leader said it could be an election strategy of Modi to attack the UPA government at the Centre over development “but, why was he silent on the serious challenges to internal security which were posed during the six-year rule of the NDA government?
“It is an open secret that serious internal security issues emerged during the NDA government including plane hijack, attack on Parliament and Kargil war. It is surprising to see Modi’s ‘mauni baba (silent monk)’ attitude on these issues,” she said.
She warned her cadre to be careful and not get swayed by “dirty tricks” adapted by other parties to influence them and vote for BSP. “SP and BJP are going to suffer during the elections so they are indulging in propaganda,” she said when asked how she felt about reports that Dalits were moving towards BJP.
Refusing to give any estimate of seats to be won, she said BSP would also fare well in other parts of the country like Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra among others.
The BSP supremo asked the Election Commission to expel all outsiders from Varanasi and Azamgarh who were staying as “tourists”, fearing they might go to any extent to influence voters at the last moment.
