Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claims that the Samajwadi Party and Congress were part of a “big game” against her, BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday said the gathbandhan had made several sacrifices and the alliance would continue well into the future. Maintaining that the gathbandhan had no understanding with the Congress, Mayawati said the SP and BSP had decided not to field
candidates in the Amethi and Raebareli Lok Sabha seats to weaken the BJP.
While Congress president Rahul Gandhi contests from Amethi, his mother Sonia Gandhi is the Raebareli candidate. Both constituencies, which are Gandhi family bastions, go to polls on Monday. “Even today, my party considers the Congress and BJP to be two sides of the same coin. But even after that, we left Amethi and Raebareli for Congress. I am totally hopeful that every single vote of our alliance, especially the BSP base-vote, which consists of around 22-23%, will go to the Congress on these two seats under any conditions,” she
said in a statement released by her party.
“No one should doubt this. My vote is mostly silent and does not show off much. It is no hidden fact that my voters understand their leader’s sign and then give every single vote to the candidate the leader wants.” Calling the Prime Minister’s claims on the BSP being kept out of the loop by the SP and Congress “false and baseless”, Mayawati made a strong pitch for unity.
“All I will say on the attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Pratapgarh rally yesterday under the policy of divide and rule…is that BJP, and mainly PM Modi, face an unprecedented difficulty. They are not getting any cure for the stomach ache they have because of the alliance,” she said.
“Our alliance is of the future along with the present and it will remove the BJP’s narrow, casteist, communal and arrogant government from Uttar Pradesh too.” She said the PM’s statements were just an attempt to cause a rift between supporters of the SP and BSP in UP and confuse them. She also said the gathbandhan has great public faith and support.
“The alliance formed is to remove the BJP’s anti-people government. For this, all three parties (SP, BSP and RLD) have been making all kinds of sacrifices and will continue to do so. This is why our alliance has received great public faith and public support. It will be better if PM Modi and the BJP do not worry about the next government at the centre or the next Prime Minister,” she said.