Mayawati vows to defeat Modi in 2019, says BJP misrule not selfish needs united SP-BSP

LUCKNOW: Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday renewed her attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP saying the saffron party and its leaders have always "oppressed" the Dalit community. Referring to PM Modi's radio programme Mann Ki Baat, Mayawati said: "Modi Ji spoke of BR Ambedkar in Mann Ki Baat but his mindset is the opposite of what Baba Saheb stood for. That is the reason BJP RSS was kept out of power in the past decades." She also accused the BJP of doing "drama" towards the Dalits in its 4.5-years of governance. Mayawati also hit out at the BJP for fielding an extra candidate in Uttar Pradesh Rajya Sabha poll, which resulted in the defeat of the BSP nominee. "They chant Ambedkar's name but oppress those belonging to the category. It's evident from the fact when BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar was made to lose when BJP introduced an extra seat," She said BSP-SP didn't come together to fulfill 'selfish needs' but to stand against BJP's misrule.

They chant Ambedkar's name but oppress those belonging to the category. It's evident from the fact when Bhim Rao Ambedkar (BSP) was made to lose when BJP introduced an extra seat. BSP-SP didn't come together to fulfill selfish needs but to stand against BJP's misrule: Mayawati pic.twitter.com/H7CCRtbA95

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 26, 2018

Mayawati said BJP leaders went into a trauma after her press meeting on 24 March in which she had said Rajya Sabha election defeat will have no impact on her party's association with the SP. Riding high on bypoll victories of SP-BSP alliance UP, Mayawati has called a meeting of her party leaders on Monday to discuss the seat-sharing arrangement with SP for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Mayawati has also declared that Friday's Rajya Sabha results would not cause "an iota of difference in the close understanding" with the SP and bluntly told the BJP that its "conspiracy" would make her and her allies "work with even more force" for the 2019 general election. The BJP has been rattled by the Samajwadi-BSP bonhomie, which has already led to its defeat this month in two Lok Sabha by-elections, one of them on the home turf of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The BJP had won both Gorakhpur and Phulpur with huge margins in 2014 when the Samajwadis and the Bahujan Samaj Party had contested separately. Mayawati had on Saturday said PM Modi and his " chela" (acolyte), Adityanath, would be spending sleepless nights realising they had failed to distance the BSP from the Samajwadis. It now fears heavy losses in the general election if Mayawati and Akhilesh join forces with the Congress and other Opposition parties, such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar.