Facing heat over a recent probe ordered by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath over her decisions to sell 21 sugar mills at throwaway prices and build memorials, BSP chief Mayawati hit back saying she may join hands with like-minded parties in opposing the BJP's alleged tampering of electronic voting machines to win the 2017 assembly polls.
The BSP chief was the first to question the massive mandate for the BJP which won 312 of the 403 assembly seats in UP alleging that the saffron party had tampered with the EVMs.
Mayawati, who had refused to join a 2015 Bihar-like grand alliance in UP when SP and Congress came together to fight the BJP, could win just 19 seats in the state she ruled as chief minister from 2007-12.
Congress and SP sources said the BSP joining them would be a welcome step whether it is guided by Mayawati's political compulsion or her desperation to stay relevant in the crucial state.
The decision to sell sugar mills during her previous tenure as chief minister was a collective decision of the cabinet, she said in her defence as Yogi Adityanath sniffed a Rs 1,100 crore scam behind the decisions.
Amid rising concerns over an uncertain future for the Mayawati-centric party, the BSP supremo also unveiled a succession plan by appointing her younger brother Anand Kumar as party vice president. This however came with a rider that he won't become an MLA, MP, minister or chief minister.
The decision, she explained, would allow her to spend more time in Lucknow while Anand would sign the official papers in Delhi.
Interestingly, over the past decade, Anand Kumar, who worked as a government clerk in Noida, transformed into a real estate and hospitality baron with properties in Mussoorie, Siliguri, Mumbai and Kolkata. But he remained away from the lime light.
In January, weeks after the Enforcement Directorate detected that around Rs 104 crore cash was deposited in two accounts, including one belonging to Kumar and another of BSP, income tax department authorities were probing extraordinary profits his companies had made.
The BJP is using agencies like CBI, ED and income tax to harass her family members to settle scores with her, Mayawati alleged, adding she will not cow down.
Anand will continue with his business interests as before, said Mayawati adding that he need not depend on anyone financially.
The two big announcements by Mayawati came on a day when she paid tributes to dalit icon BR Ambedkar on his birth anniversary along with several leading politicians of the country.
EVMs are the latest binding factor among the Opposition parties who together petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee on April 12, the last day of the parliament's budget session, to ensure no tampering takes place in the future.
Mayawati's close aide and Rajya Sabha member Satish Chandra Misra was part of the delegation led by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
According to Mayawati, not only in the recent assembly elections in five states, the BJP tampered with the EVMs in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as well when saffron party came to power at the centre with absolute majority. EVMs were tampered with in around 250 of the 403 seats, she said.