Mayawati said on Saturday that the Rajya Sabha elections Friday where her candidate had lost would make no difference to the “alliance”.
Putting official seal on the BSP’s arrangement with the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati said on Saturday that the Rajya Sabha elections Friday where her candidate had lost would make no difference to the “alliance”. She also warned the BJP that the two parties were here to work together till the 2019 polls. At a press conference here, Mayawati said, “Kal jo natije aaye hain, usse SP aur BSP ki aayi nazdeeki mein til bhar bhi asar parne wala nahin hai (The results of yesterday won’t make an iota of difference to the proximity that has developed between the SP and BSP).”
Targeting the BJP, which won nine Rajya Sabha seats, edging out the BSP candidate, she said its “conspiracy” would cost it heavy. “Yeh hara to diya hai, par hamari party ke log aur SP ke bhi log aur mehnat ke sath, zidd ke sath, BJP ko kendra mein satta mein aane se rokne ke liye… jab Lok Sabha ka aam chunao hoga to inke candidate ko harane mein puri takat jhok denge. Yadi sab kuchch aage tak theek chalta raha (We may have been defeated, but our party and SP workers will work harder, will full power, to stop the BJP from coming to power at the Centre… If everything continues to work out well).”
Warning that the BSP would halt the RSS-BJP “well-planned conspiracy” under which her candidate had been defeated, Mayawati said, “Yeh soch rahe honge, ‘Waah waah!’. Bade laddoo khaye honge raat bhar. Soch rahe honge ki, ‘Mayawati bahut garam mizaj ki hai. Yeh alliance toot jayega, yeh jo inmein taalmel ban raha hai yeh kharab ho jayega. Aur fir 2019 mein jab chunao hoga to humari balle-balle ho jayegi’ (They must be rejoicing, eating sweets, thinking that Mayawati is very hot-tempered. This alliance will break, this understanding will be spoiled, and that in 2019 polls, we will emerge victorious).”
On Friday, the BSP’s Bhimrao Ambedkar lost despite the support of SP as well as Congress MLAs. Mayawati on Saturday suspended her MLA Anil Singh, who had cross-voted, and accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading, misusing “government machinery”, and creating “an atmosphere of fear” using central agencies to make a “dhanna seth” victorious again.
It was all done to create a wedge between the SP and BSP, which were coming close, she said.
At the same time, Mayawati had a word of advice for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was to have helped the BSP nominee win in return for the BSP’s support to the SP during the recent Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls. She said that if she had been in Akhilesh’s place, she would have managed to keep that promise, though she gave him the benefit of doubt saying he was new to politics.
In particular, she talked of Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, whom the SP had been banking on to vote for the BSP. Noting that she had put Raja Bhaiyya “in line” during her government, Mayawati said, “They (the SP) should have sacrificed their all to ensure that the BSP nominee won. But they fumbled there… Par Akhilesh Yadav abhi rajniti mein zyada tajurbekaar nahin hain. Dhire-dhire tajurbekaar ho jayenge. Unko bhi inko jawab dena aa jayega (Akhilesh is new to politics, slowly he will also gain experience and know how to answer the BJP).”
In contrast, the BSP chief said, she had a long experience in politics and knew better than to let what happened hurt their “alliance”.
In another indication that she had turned a new leaf, Mayawati said she was willing to put behind the guesthouse incident, the major source of rancour between the BSP and SP, frequently invoked by the BJP. Current SP chief Akhilesh had nothing to do with that, she said.
“He was nowhere in politics at the time of the June 2, 1995, incident. It is wrong to hold Akhilesh Yadav guilty for that,” she said, noting that the BJP had instead made the police officer who was posted in Lucknow at the time the Director General of Police of UP.
She said this was could be part of a strategy to get her killed so that the BSP movement could be stopped. “Meri hatya karane ki phiraak mein to nahin hai (Are they looking to get me killed)?” said Mayawati, alleging that even the riots in Saharanpur were a conspiracy to get her killed.
Mayawati also questioned the BJP calling the BSP’s Rajya Sabha loss as revenge for its loss in its bastions Gorakhpur or Phulpur. “There, the people voted directly. Here, people with money won, on the strength of money and government machinery.”