Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Wednesday accused the BJP of trying to win elections in Karnataka by promoting “communal and casteist agenda” like it did in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and cautioned voters not to fall prey to such designs.
She appealed for bringing the Janata Dal (Secular) and BSP alliance to power in Karnataka and making H.D. Kumaraswamy the next Chief Minister.
Addressing the ‘Kumara Parva’ rally here, Ms. Mayawati cautioned the people not to pay attention to the opinion polls that had predicted third place to the JD(S) in the seat tally, and instead support the JD(S) and BSP candidates in the elections.
She said the JD(S) and the BSP entered into an alliance to safeguard the interests of Dalits, adivasis, religious minorities, farmers, small traders, and the poor, and work for their well-being.
The BJP and the Congress, which governed the State, failed to uplift these communities, she alleged.
Slams BJP, Congress
Lashing out at the BJP and the Congress for not fulfilling their promises on reservation, Ms. Mayawati cautioned the Dalits and backward classes on the conspiracy being hatched for ending reservation in government jobs. In the BJP-governed States, the benefits of reservation were not reaching Dalits and backward classes, and the private sector was not complying with quota rules for giving jobs, she charged.
The BSP chief maintained that the Congress did not consider the demand from followers of B.R. Ambedkar for posthumously according him the Bharat Ratna though the party invoked the Dalit icon for votes from Dalits.
She alleged that the Congress and the BJP opposed the implementation of the Mandal Commission Report. It was the V.P. Singh government which implemented the report and fulfilled the wish by recommending the highest civilian award to the Dalit icon.
The BSP chief accused the BJP and the Congress of not considering the BSP’s proposal for according quota for the poor among the upper castes, when their parties were in power at the Centre.
Ms. Mayawati hit out at the BJP-led NDA government over Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, who fled the country, and alleged that they had the “blessings” from the party. These cases had withered the tall talks by the BJP on fighting corruption, she said.
Unlike the BJP and the Congress, which allegedly get funding from crorepatis, the BSP fights its elections from the donations raised from its party workers, she said.
The former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy were among those present.
