Accusing Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party of being “hand-in-glove” over the issues of corruption and vote bank politics, Bharatiya Janata Party today declared if it failed to get majority in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, it would sit in the opposition.
“Both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party have promised reservation for religious minorities in their election manifestos. We would like to know how are they going to do that when the Supreme Court has made it clear that reservation cannot exceed 50 per cent,” BJP National President Nitin Gadkari said.
He said the parties should explain whether they are thinking of cutting into the quotas meant for the SCs and the OBCs. He added that the BSP, which claims to be a champion of Dalits, is silent.
“All these parties appear to be hand-in-glove”, Mr. Gadkari told reporters here.
He said reservations based on religious identity were “at variance with the stand taken by stalwarts like Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee when the issue had come up for discussion before the Constituent Assembly”.
“Moreover, these parties are talking of reservations not because of any genuine concern about Muslims, but due to the fact that they view the community as a mere vote bank”, he added.
Mr. Gadkari said, “the tacit understanding between these parties is not confined just to vote bank politics. They keep helping each other whenever they are under attack for corruption”.
The SP and the BSP helped the UPA government when a no-confidence motion was brought in Parliament over the burning issue of price rise.
They again supported the Congress-led coalition in its defence against the damning report of the Public Accounts Committee on the 2G scam.
The Congress, Mr. Gadkari said, has been returning the favour by forcing the CBI to temper its investigations against Mr. Mulayam and Ms. Mayawati, both of whom are facing serious charges of graft.
