RAIPUR: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday exhorted the people of Chhattisgarh to ensure her party triumphs in Chhattisgarh for the right growth in the state and to fulfill the dreams of the followers a of Satnami sect exponent Guru Ghasidas.
Speaking at a rally in Ambikapur, some 300 km north of Raipur, she lashed out at the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state saying, “Here, an anti-dalit and an anti-tribal party is in power and it has not done anything significant for the weaker sections of all communities. So we have form a government on our own. There is no need to try yet again with such a government.”
The BSP has struck up a pre-poll alliance with former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s regional outfit Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J). Under the seat-sharing arrangement, the BSP will contest from 35 of the 90 Assembly seats in the state.
Speaking at an earlier rally in Akaltara, in support of Jogi’s daughter-in-law Richathe BSP hit out at the BJP as well as the Congress saying both parties nurture an “anti-reservation mindset”.
“The BJP is not serious about fulfilling the reservation quota. The Congress didn’t implement the Mandal commission report during its regime and the BJP withdrew its support to the then VP Singh government, which then fell. The BSP ran a campaign in support of the report across the country,” she said, adding that it was owing to the pressure mounted by her party that BR Ambedkar awarded the Bharat Ratna (posthumously).
She reiterated that only a BSP-JCC(J) government can ensure proper development among deprived sections in the state — particularly the tribals, Dalits, the backward classes and the minorities.
Both the JCC(J) and the BSP are fighting for greater political space in the state. Jogi’s party, which was founded in June 2016, is yet to face an electoral test while the BSP’s performance in the state has not improved over the previous three assembly polls. It got a 4.27% vote share in the 2013 Assembly polls.
Mayawati’s next visit to Chhattisgarh is due on November 16-17 as part of her campaign.