LUCKNOW: A day after the attachment of a benami plot worth Rs 400 crore of her brother, BSP chief Mayawati on Friday tried to turn the tables on ruling BJP by questioning the source of the huge amount of money it allegedly got to fund its elections.
However, the situation seems to be tricky for the BSP chief as she will find it difficult to explain the sources of her brother’s wealth to her voters in upcoming by-polls to 12 assembly seats in UP and the battle of Lucknow in 2022. Currently, Anand Kumar owns a dozen firms and an alleged wealth worth Rs 1,300 crore.
Mayawati accused BJP and RSS of having a ‘casteist’ mindset. “They can’t see a Dalit or deprived rising and growing in business through hard work and diligence. They are using official machinery to torment opponents,” she claimed.
Asking the BJP to reveal the sources of Rs 2,000 crore it allegedly collected during elections, Mayawati asked it was benami, as no one knew its sources. She was reading out her statement to media here on Friday.
On the contrary, political pundits believe that it was a tricky situation for the BSP chief who is already on the radar of probe agencies over the sale of 21 sugar mills and the construction of memorials during her last tenure as chief minister in 2007-2012.
“The organisations like Bhim Army and others have got a handle to target the BSP over the issue of benami properties,” said Prof AK Mishra, a senior political scientist.
“It will certainly impact the prospects of BSP in upcoming bypolls and 2022 state assembly polls, especially, when Mayawati has appointed her relatives to senior party positions by sidelining dedicated leaders,” said a recently expelled BSP leader.