‘Have to save Uttar Pradesh’ is Mayawati’s new slogan

She emphasises that BSP’s focus is on Assembly polls and not on ongoing zilla panchayat chairperson polls

BSP chief Mayawati. File

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday released a new slogan as part of her preparation for next year Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls- “UP ko bachana hai, bachana hai. Sarvajan ko bachana hai, bachana hai, BSP ko satta mein lana hai va zaroor lana hai (We have to save UP... We have to save all sections of society... We have to bring the BSP to power”.

Ms. Mayawati emphasised that her party’s focus was on Assembly polls and not on the ongoing zilla panchayat chairperson polls.

She defended her decision to not field candidates for the zilla panchayat chairperson posts, saying that winning the seats depended on “sale and purchase” and “misuse” of the state machinery. The BJP government was adopting the ways of the previous SP (Samajwadi Party) government and the polls were not independent, she alleged.

Ms. Mayawati told her party workers that instead of spending time and energy in these polls, they should invest on strengthening the organisation of the BSP and increase its support base among ‘sarvasamaj’ or all communities.

SP video

A day earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav released a 138-second promotional video targetting the Yogi Adityanath-led government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

“Sukh dukh mein saath nibhaya hai. Sukh dukh mein saath nibhaenge,” he tweeted lines of the song.

The video features people struggling for oxygen and hospital beds, references to bodies floating in rivers and images of migrant workers returning home.