PATNA: Keen to grab an opportunity to further his ongoing efforts to form an anti-BJP axis of parties, Yadav made good use of Mayawati’s resignation from Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. He lashed out at BJP for being an “anti-Dalit” party and extended a helping hand to the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Yadav, who referred to Mayawati as "behen Mayawatijee" (sister Mayawati), called her up and told her that he is willing to nominate her to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar, if she wants.
“She has taken a bold step. The voice of the Dalits is being suppressed. BJP is neck-deep in arrogance. The kind of behavior that was meted out to sister Mayawati in Rajya Sabha makes it clear that BJP is an anti-Dalit party,” Yadav told journalists at his residence.
“We will foil all efforts to suppress the voices of Dalits, backward castes, and minorities. We will send Mayawatijee to Rajya Sabha from Bihar,” said Yadav in one of his five tweets after the BSP chief’s resignation.
Mayawati resigned from her Rajya Sabha membership on Tuesday in protest against “not being allowed to speak” on the recent anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur after deputy chairman PJ Kurien asked her to wind up her impromptu speech quickly.
Yadav, who invited Mayawati to take part in RJD’s anti-BJP rally scheduled for August 27, earlier said she would attend the event. The RJD chief has also invited Samajwadi Party leader and former UP chief minister Akhilesh Singh Yadav to the event.
He has been advocating a coming together of SP and BSP in a national alliance of parties to counter the BJP-led NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.