Lucknow: Union minister of state for social justice and empowerment, Ramdas Athawale, who is also the president of the Republican Party of India (RPI), said that the slogan ‘Batenge to katenge' coined by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath helped the BJP in Maharashtra assembly elections.
"Yogiji's pitch gave a direction to people, and voters in Maharashtra proved that they would not be divided. They stood behind Modiji and ensured a thumping victory for the BJP," Athawale told reporters in Lucknow on Friday.
Lauding Yogi, Athawale said that the development work undertaken by him was commendable and his efforts to keep the law-and-order situation under control were worth emulating.
Targeting leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, he said: "In the Lok Sabha elections, Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav campaigned together and misled the voters by spreading lies that if BJP returned to power, it would tamper with the Constitution, abolish reservation and end democracy. The public was swayed by their words, but still the opposition could not stop BJP from forming the govt."
Attacking the opposition for questioning the EVM, he said, "When these parties win election, they have no problem with EVMs, but when they don't, as in the case of Maharashtra, the poor EVM is blamed. Rahul Gandhi's lies on Constitution have no buyers now. No one can forget what Congress did during the Emergency and how Indira Gandhi disregarded BR Ambedkar's Constitution at that time."
Athawale said that BSP had lost its base in UP and time had come for the followers of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar to unite under the umbrella of RPI. "BSP can no longer safeguard the interests of Dalits. Time has come for Dalits to repose faith in RPI," he said.