The Hindu : National : Mayawati takes credit for defeat of Samajwadi Party

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Saturday, Nov 11, 2006
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Mayawati takes credit for defeat of Samajwadi Party

Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW : The Bahujan Samaj Party may not have contested the Uttar Pradesh local bodies elections on its symbol, but the party president, Mayawati, is taking the credit for plotting the defeat of the Samajwadi Party in the mayoral elections.

The BSP president said here on Friday that the Bharatiya Janata Party won eight mayor's seats and the Congress three because BSP votes were transferred to these parties.

She said this was the outcome of tactical voting, whose basic objective was to ensure the defeat of the Samajwadi Party even if it meant supporting the BJP and the Congress. The former Chief Minister said she had sent instructions to her party cadres to vote for the party best placed to defeat the Samajwadi Party. In Lucknow, the BSP workers voted for the Congress after it was ``revealed to her'' that the BSP-supported independent mayoral candidate was ``bought off'' by the SP.

In Meerut, the BSP supported the BJP since she did not want the wife of a ``fundamentalist Muslim leader'' who was earlier in her party (Haji Yaqub Qureshi) to win, Ms Mayawati said.

She dismissed the possibility of the BSP aligning with any party in next year's Vidhan Sabha elections, claiming that her party would get absolute majority and form the Government on its own.

Commenting on the report of the Central Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission that Uttar Pradesh topped the list of States where Dalits were victimised, Ms. Mayawati demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister.

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