Maya keeps mum on presidential candidate
20 May 2012 9:50 AM GMT
With presidential elections in the country due in July, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo, Mayawati, chose to keep her cards close to her heart on her party's choice of presidential candidate.
'Our party is keeping an eye on all parties on the issue of the Presidential nominee. Let us see what candidates UPA and NDA field,' said Mayawati.
The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said she would back a candidate who fits the party's line of movement and the party would take a decision once the nominees of UPA and NDA are clear. She added that the party would not take any decision in haste over the choice of presidential candidate.
The BSP chief did not specify if her party would support Pranab Mukherjee if he contested the presidential elections as the UPA candidate. BSP has 21 members in the Lok Sabha and 15 members in the Rajya Sabha and has 80 members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Reinforcing her position as the party president, Mayawati said during her tenure as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, all policy decisions in her party were taken by her and not her close advisers.
'Now I feel, after becoming member of the Rajya Sabha, my opponents may start spreading misinformation that it is actually the leaders of both the Houses Satish Chandra Mishra in Rajya Sabha and Dara Singh Chauhan in Lok Sabha, who prepare what I speak in the House,' said Mayawati.
The BSP chief added that during her tenure as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, she used to send key notes to her party MP's instructing them what to say in the Parliament. However, despite this her MP's had at times goofed up and then left with no option, she herself had to hold press conferences to spell out the party's stand.
She attacked the National Chairperson for Schedule Caste P L Punia, for spreading rumours that he used to discharge all responsiblities when Mayawati was the Chief Minister. 'P L Punia joined Congress party after his retirement and this shows that his thinking towards dalits was Gandhian and not Ambedkar’s' said Mayawati.
Attacking the Samajwadi government in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati described the Samajwadi Party as anti-dalit and alleged that crimes like murder, rape and extortion are on the rise after SP came into power. Mayawati further added that that the probes ordered against her were due to political vendetta.
'Our party is keeping an eye on all parties on the issue of the Presidential nominee. Let us see what candidates UPA and NDA field,' said Mayawati.
The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said she would back a candidate who fits the party's line of movement and the party would take a decision once the nominees of UPA and NDA are clear. She added that the party would not take any decision in haste over the choice of presidential candidate.
The BSP chief did not specify if her party would support Pranab Mukherjee if he contested the presidential elections as the UPA candidate. BSP has 21 members in the Lok Sabha and 15 members in the Rajya Sabha and has 80 members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Reinforcing her position as the party president, Mayawati said during her tenure as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, all policy decisions in her party were taken by her and not her close advisers.
'Now I feel, after becoming member of the Rajya Sabha, my opponents may start spreading misinformation that it is actually the leaders of both the Houses Satish Chandra Mishra in Rajya Sabha and Dara Singh Chauhan in Lok Sabha, who prepare what I speak in the House,' said Mayawati.
The BSP chief added that during her tenure as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, she used to send key notes to her party MP's instructing them what to say in the Parliament. However, despite this her MP's had at times goofed up and then left with no option, she herself had to hold press conferences to spell out the party's stand.
She attacked the National Chairperson for Schedule Caste P L Punia, for spreading rumours that he used to discharge all responsiblities when Mayawati was the Chief Minister. 'P L Punia joined Congress party after his retirement and this shows that his thinking towards dalits was Gandhian and not Ambedkar’s' said Mayawati.
Attacking the Samajwadi government in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati described the Samajwadi Party as anti-dalit and alleged that crimes like murder, rape and extortion are on the rise after SP came into power. Mayawati further added that that the probes ordered against her were due to political vendetta.
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