Victory in UP will embolden Modi govt to end quota, claims Maya
21 Jan 2017 5:27 PM GMT
Latching onto RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya's remarks advocating review of reservation policy, BSP Chief Mayawati on Saturday claimed that a victory for BJP in UP Assembly polls will embolden the Modi government to end quota and asked dalits, tribals and other backward classes to "teach BJP a lesson" as in Bihar.
The BSP leader, who has been trying to woo Muslim voters to form a winning combination with dalits in the UP Assembly election, also appealed to members of minority community not to "waste" their vote by supporting Samajwadi Party, asserting that only BSP can stop BJP from gaining strength.
"I want to tell people from these (reserved) communities that in case BJP somehow comes to power in UP it will boost the morale of their government at the centre and it will immediately end benefits of quota for the dalits, adivasis and other backward castes or make it ineffective," the former Chief Minister said.
Mayawati warned RSS and BJP against issuing "threats" of scrapping reservation and alleged that such remarks exposed the double face of the saffron outfits and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Like Bihar, they need to be taught a lesson in UP so that this party (BJP) and Sangh no longer indulge in unconstitutional talk of ending reservation," she said at a press conference and exhorted members of the reserved castes to ensure BJP's defeat.
She was reacting to RSS publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya advocating review of reservation policy while speaking at Jaipur Literary Festival on Friday.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's similar remarks about the need for a review of the reservation policy, just ahead of Bihar polls in 2015, had cost BJP dearly as it saw a consolidation of the electorate from the backward classes in favour of Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance.
"Any government, specially BJP and RSS cannot snatch the right to reservation. If Modi government brings a law for ending reservation, the people belonging to these sections will teach them a lesson and they will forget all about doing politics," Mayawati told newspersons here.
Mulayam aide joins BSP
In a setback to Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav's aide Ambika Chaudhary on Saturday joined the BSP, saying he was saddened by the way the SP patriarch was treated by his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
Chaudhary, who joined the BSP in the presence of party chief Mayawati, has been promised a party ticket from his traditional Phephna seat in Ballia which he had lost in the 2012 UP Assembly polls. He later became a member of the Legislative Council. "I have taken him in the party and he will be given full respect in the BSP at all levels, much more than he was getting in SP. The party will field him from his old seat in Ballia in the Assembly polls," Mayawati said.
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