BSP supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday promised special category status to Odisha if her party is voted to power at the Centre in the 2014 polls.
“Odisha is the most backward state in the country despite the Congress, the BJP and other political parties at the helm most of the time after Independence,” Mayawati said addressing a rally here and asked Dalits and weaker section of people to use their vote correctly during the ensuing election to change the situation for the better.
Taking a dig at the BJP and the RSS, Mayawati alleged that they were indulging in conversion politics in the interior areas of the state.
“Changing your religion will not change your economic and social condition, change the government and your condition will improve,” the BSP chief said criticising the UPA at the Centre for its failure to control price and solve the unemployment problem. She asked the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who are more than 50 per cent of the population in the state, to take advantage from the uncertain situation in Odisha by voting for the BSP so that it could influence government formation.
“The situation in the BJD is not good, and in the Congress and the BJP, it is worse,” she said and added that the BSP should cash in on such a situation. “If we can win some seats here, we will have the balance of power with us and influence government formation,” she said.
Stating that the condition of SC/STs and some other communities has not improved in many parts of the country, the former UP Chief Minister said that as a result, many have joined the Maoists and gone for other wrong paths. Unless their condition is improved, the situation will continue, she said.