Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday targeted Bhim Army president Chandrashekar Azad 'Ravan', who was released from Saharanpur jail on Friday.
Speaking at her new house in Mall Avenue in Lucknow on Sunday, the former chief minister of the state said, “For the past few days, a man who was recently released from jail is trying to call me ‘Bua’. I can never have a relation with these sort of people. My party and I can never be associated with people who were jailed for violence and were freed as part of a strategy against Bahujan Samaj Party. If people would have been following the path shown by Baba Saheb and Kanshiram Ji, then they would have come out in support and taken the BSP movement forward instead of forming a separate outfit."
Chandrashekar was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) by the UP government and spent 15 months in jail for his alleged role in the violence that broke out in Shabbirpur village in May 2017.
After coming out of jail, Chandarshekar met Imran Masood, the Congress heavy-weight in West UP. The political observers feel that the meeting comes as a testimony to speculations of 'Ravan' being in touch with the top Congress leadership, which is again a matter of concern for the BSP leadership.
The move gives Congress a better bargaining power vis-a-vis the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). It's no hidden secret that BSP chief Mayawati has been playing a hard negotiator with the Congress on the issue of seat-sharing for 2019 polls.
The BSP supremo added that she is not averse to joining a grand alliance against the BJP, but will agree only if her party is allocated a respectable share of seats in states where it is currently a minor player. "We are not against having an alliance in the upcoming polls. But it will happen only if we are given a respectable number of seats. Otherwise, we will go alone." Mayawati told reports in Lucknow on Sunday afternoon.
“BJP Governments in states and in the Centre are trying to hide their failures by diversionary tactics. They have not fulfilled their election promises. They are trying to use Atal ji's death for political gains," she was quoted as saying by ANI.
BSP is said to be in talks with the Congress for alliance in the poll bound Madya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. In all the three states, it has a pocket of influence which has fetched the party only a few seats in the last two decades. An alliance with the Congress here could also lay the foundation for a larger understanding between the two parties and other non-BJP outfits in the Hindi heartland including politically crucial UP and Bihar.
Mayawati also extended support for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, saying that there is no need to make changes to the existing Act. “No need to change the Act. It should be used judiciously."
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