BSP chief Mayawati (Photo | PTI) 
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Mayawati calls Congress 'votekatuwa', urges people not waste vote on grand old party

BSP chief Mayawati termed the Congress as a party which divides the opposition votes against the BJP, and urged voters to ignore it.

Namita Bajpai

LUCKNOW: Calling Congress party as mere ‘votekatuwa’ (vote cutting party) , Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has urged the people of poll bound Uttar Pradesh not to waste their vote on the grand old party.

Launching a veiled attack on Priyanka Gandhi Vadra without taking her name, the BSP chief said the standing of Congress party in the current election could be gauged from the fact that its chief ministerial candidate changed her stance within a few hours of claiming that she is the party's face in UP.

"In such a situation, it would be better for the voters not to waste their vote on Congress instead they should vote for the BSP unilaterally," said the BSP chief in a twitter post. Continuing her onslaught on the political rivals, Mayawati said it was necessary to vote out the BJP in the interest of the people of UP.

"While the parties like Congress are mere vote cutting organisations and the BJP should be voted out in the interest of Sarvsamaj, BSP is the only tried and tested party number one to be voted for," tweeted Mayawati.

It may be recalled that after claiming that she was Congress's face in UP during a press conference on Friday, AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra negated it saying it was merely a tongue-in-cheek statement in response to repeated queries from media person on the same issue. Priyanka had even expressed surprise over the absence of the BSP chief from the poll arena calling it a low profile campaign by Mayawati even in the middle of polls.

In the previous 2017 assembly elections, BSP had secured 19 seats and Congress just seven. Till the current elections, while Mayawati faced a series of desertions by her MLAs and left with only three in the assembly, Congress also faced the same challenge and two of its MLAs switched sides to the BJP in the
middle of their term.

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