BSP chief warns against misuse of governor office (File Image)
Even as the Congress-JD(S) combine, along with a lone BSP legislator, has staked claim to form the government in Karnataka, BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday cautioned the main opposition party against undermining regional parties and using language for political expediency that eventually “help the BJP” electorally.
To buttress her argument, Mayawati recalled Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s charge against the JD(S) —- her party’s pre-election alliance partner in Karnataka —- by calling it the “B-team of BJP”. She maintained that this helped the BJP in the polls.
“I want to suggest to the Congress that it should not use language for its political expediency during election campaigns that end up benefiting the BJP and RSS,” Mayawati said in a written statement issued on Thursday.
Singling out Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s bitter verbal attack on the JD(S) during the campaign phase, Mayawati stated, “It is now apparent how they (Congress) in election speeches dubbed the JD(S) as the B-team of BJP, particularly in regions with significant Muslim population, (thereby) causing division in votes. This resulted in victory mostly of BJP candidates in these regions. BJP could not have reached (the stage where it has) 104 MLAs had the Congress not indulged in this kind of rhetoric.”
In his public meetings in the run-up to the May 12 polls, Rahul had accused the H D Deve Gowda-led party of tacitly allying with the BJP to defeat the Congress. At a rally in Hassan, he had called JD(S) the “B team” of BJP, and that it will support the saffron party through the “back door” in the polls.
Taking on the BJP, Mayawati accused the party of misusing official machinery to install its government in Karnataka. She called the recent developments in the state a “conspiracy” to destroy the Constitution drafted by BR Ambedkar. “Since the BJP-led NDA came to power at the Centre, it has been misusing government machinery and attacking democratic values. The latest example is Karnataka, where the BJP got (B S) Yeddyurappa sworn in despite being fewer in numbers (having fewer MLAs) from Congress-JD(S) and BSP (combine). This is condemnable,” Mayawati stated.
Maintaining that alleged misuse of the Governor’s office is not new in Indian politics, the BSP chief stated, “Most of the time we have seen that whoever is at the Centre, Governors appointed by them take their decision as per benefits of the Central government. This not only ends the dignity of the Governor’s office but is also not good for democracy.” She stated that the BSP has suffered because of this on many occasions in Uttar Pradesh, and the party has even had to take its appeal to the Supreme Court.
The BSP had contested 20 seats in Karnataka in alliance with the JD(S) and won on one. The party has announced that it will continue the alliance with JD(S) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.