Hitting back at “B-team of BJP” jibe, BSP supremo Mayawati on March 22 alleged that rather than her party, it is Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadav who is openly with the saffron party and also got his son blessed by it.
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She also attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for changing the names of institutions named after B.R. Ambedkar during his tenure.
“It is not the BSP, but SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav who is openly with the BJP. In the last swearing-in, he had got Shri Akhilesh blessed by the BJP and has now sent a member to the BJP for his work,” Ms. Mayawati tweeted in Hindi, in an apparent reference to Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who recently joined the BJP.
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“The Ambedkarites of U.P. will never forgive SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had changed most of the names of schemes and institutions named after him [B.R. Ambedkar] during his [SP] Government, which is disgusting and shameful,” she said in another tweet.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is often called the “B-team of BJP” by its political rivals, especially after Union Home Minister Amit Shah remarked that the party has maintained its relevance.
“The BSP has maintained its relevance. I believe they will get votes. I do not know how much of it will convert into seats, but it will get votes,” Mr. Shah had said during the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
Ms. Mayawati had later appreciated Mr. Shah for acknowledging that her party would get votes.
The senior BJP leader’s remark had also triggered speculation over the possibility of a post-election tie-up between the two parties. In 1995, 1997 and 2002, Ms. Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh with BJP’s support.