LUCKNOW: In a strong rebuff to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s claims that the party had approached Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for alliance in UP Assembly polls, BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday advised Gandhi to direct his concern on his own party rather than others.
Rahul Gandhi had claimed on Saturday that the Congress had even offered Mayawati the chief minister’s post but she did not respond because she was under pressure from the Centre’s investigating agencies like CBI and ED.
Accusing Rahul Gandhi of following his father and former PM late Rajiv Gandhi in tarnishing the image of her party and its leaders, Mayawati asked him first to put his house in order before preaching to others.
Refuting the claims of Rahul Gandhi out rightly, Mayawati said his remark was the manifestation of the Congress party’s inferiority complex, casteist mindset and hatred for the deprived and downtrodden along with the BSP. “Before making any reference to my party, Rahul Gandhi should throw a glance at his house which is in disarray. Even the BJP is taking advantage of that,” Mayawati said while interacting with media persons here on Sunday.
She further accused the Congress of blocking Dalit people's emancipation by denying them reservation benefits and diverting funds for the socially oppressed classes to other purposes.
The BSP chief charged the Congress with trying every trick up its sleeves to weaken the movement for the downtrodden and deprived started by Dr BR Ambedkar and BSP founder Kanshi Ram. She reminded that once late Rajiv Gandhi had gone to the extent of calling Kanshi Ram a CIA agent. "He (Rahul) has only been following his father's footsteps by accusing BSP of having a tacit understanding with the BJP. This is completely unfounded," she said.
Mayawati added that Congress’ own record against the BJP had been dismal as the grand old party did not appear fighting against the saffron brigade and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), especially at a time when the ruling dispensation seemed to be eager to end democracy by making it a one-party system from panchayat to Parliament.
Mayawati said that when BSP came to power with an absolute majority in 2007, the then Congress-led UPA government at the Centre created hurdles in various projects initiated by her government. Mayawati claimed that at the time of the High Court judgement in the vexed Babari Masjid-Ram Janmbhoomi issue, the Centre did not provide Central security forces to ensure security and maintain law and order.
"That was an indication of a conspiracy against my government and then imposing President rule to govern UP from the back door," said the BSP chief. She even asserted that Congress’s alliance with the Samajwadi Party in 2017 led to the meteoric rise of the BJP in UP.
Mayawati even took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi for hugging PM Narendra Modi in Parliament saying her party did not believe in dramatics as was done by Rahul Gandhi. In the recently concluded Assembly elections, the BSP stands decimated with just one seat and a vote share of a little over 12.9 per cent registering a decline of 9.35 per cent as compared to 2017. Similarly, the Congress party has also turned into a non-entity in the state which it ruled till 1989. The party could win with just two seats of 403 with a vote share of 2.33 per cent in 2022.