Cong offered less seats to BSP in MP, Mayawati on failed alliance bid

Mayawati

BSP supremo Mayawati Tuesday accused the Congress of conspiring against her party by offering it less seats leading to the alliance between the two parties for the Madhya Pradesh polls not taking off.

The state is scheduled to go to polls on November 28 and results will be declared on December 11.

"The Congress is on weak ground in Madhya Pradesh. That is why it had proposed an alliance with the BSP in the state. (But) under a planned strategy and conspiracy, the Congress wanted to finish off the BSP and offered (it) very low number of seats (in the alliance)," Mayawati said Tuesday.

She added that the Bahujan Samaj Party had a strong base in Uttar Pradesh, MP and several other states, and after being offered less seats (by the Congress), her party decided to go it alone in MP.

She did not specify the number of seats the Congress had offered the BSP for MP polls. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister was addressing a rally at the BHEL Dussehra Maidan here. She said a desperate and nervous Congress was now accusing the BSP for the failure to cement an alliance between the two parties.

Attacking the Narendra Modi government, Mayawati claimed people as well as traders were unhappy with the way GST and demonetisation were implemented without prior preparation.

She said the two exercises had affected the country's economy, and further poor fiscal policies of the Centre had led to a spike in poverty, unemployment and inflation.

She also lashed out at the Centre for skyrocketing fuel prices. The BSP supremo accused both the BJP and Congress of ignoring the poor and making policies benefiting capitalists. She said that reservations, which were given to people due to the efforts of B R Ambedkar, was being gradually eliminated by parties having a "casteist" mentality.

She accused the Congress and the BJP of being responsible for the Mandal Commission report not being implemented. She pointed out that Ambedkar was bestowed Bharat Ratna (posthumously in 1990) by the government of Prime Minister VP Singh and not by the Congress. Earlier in the day, Mayawati addressed another election rally in Balaghat.

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