"The BJP must be thinking that Mayawati is hot-headed and will break the alliance, but at no cost will I let the BJP's plan succeed. I will give the BJP sleepless nights," she declared.
Mayawati was outmanoeuvred by the BJP in the race for the Rajya Sabha in Uttar Pradesh just days after she helped the Samajwadi Party (SP) snatch two parliamentary seats from the ruling party in bypolls.
Businessman Anil Aggarwal, backed by the BJP, beat the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)'s Bhim Rao Ambedkar in a thriller that pitted Mayawati against the formidable strategic skills of BJP chief Amit Shah, who not just worked on sulking allies but also ensured that his party lawmakers went through several rounds of practice voting.
She also accused PM Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of misusing the government machinery to defeat rival parties. "PM Modi and the Yogi government have like always misused government machinery and perpetrated government terror and fear and got a dhanna-set (rich man) elected."
Mayawati suspended the party MLA Anil Kumar Singh, who had yesterday cross-voted in favour of the BJP.
The BJP now has nine more Rajya Sabha seats from UP and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party has taken one seat for its candidate Jaya Bachchan.
Comments
Mayawati had the Samajwadi Party's surplus votes as part of an arrangement in which the bitter rivals had teamed up to defeat the BJP in two strongholds earlier this month. The Congress contributed seven votes. Akhilesh Yadav kept up his end of the bargain but it was not enough - dispiriting for an arrangement that had raised opposition hopes for a larger anti-BJP coalition ahead of the 2019 national polls.Mayawati also said that she will support the Congress to defeat the BJP. "To keep out communal people, we have always supported the Congress at the centre. We have good relations with the Congress. All seven MLA's of the Congress were remarkably honest in voting for us."
