A day after the Prime Minister urged the electorate in UP not to vote on caste considerations, BSP Chief Mayawati on Tuesday said he appears to have accepted defeat and rejected the charge of being a “casteist party”. She also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on demonetiation, alleging that he did it to divert the people’s attention as “he had failed to fulfill even a quarter of his poll promises”, including bringing back blackmoney stashed abroad.
“Yesterday’s Lucknow speech showed that he (PM) has accepted defeat and that his party is not coming to power in UP. He repeatedly said that these elections will not be fought for victory or defeat and talked about responsibility,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister told reporters.
Taking a dig, she said the faces of Modi and BJP Chief Amit Shah have “lost glow”. “Yesterday (at BJP’s Lucknow rally) it has been proved through their lost glow, their manner of speaking and their statements that they are not coming to power in UP,” she said.
The Dalit leader alleged that BSP was being dubbed a “casteist” party as part of a political conspiracy. “Opposition parties level the wrong charge against the BSP that it is a casteist party so that other castes do not vote for it. This is their political conspiracy,” Mayawati said.
“During all the four governments, BSP has worked in the interest of all castes besides the dalits,” she said, adding that her party has also demanded quota on economic basis for the upper castes both in and outside Parliament.
“The latest example to prove that we are not casteist is that we have given tickets to all sections of society for the coming elections,” she said.
Giving caste-wise details, she said that of the 403 seats, “85 are reserved for the SCs and 87 tickets have been given to dalits, 97 to Muslims, 106 to OBCs, 113 to upper castes (66 to Brahmins, 36 to Kshetriyas and 11 to Kayasthas, Vaishyas, Punjabis).”
The BSP chief said that she had decided the candidates long ago and there will be no change in it but the list will be released later. She also ruled out any alliance in the coming polls.
