Mayawati lashes out at Congress over BJP jibe, calls it 'cunning'

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati on Sunday lashed out at the Congress for accusing her party of having a tacit understanding with the BJP, saying the C in Congress stands for "cunning".

After the BJP on Saturday claimed to have swept the elections for Zila Panchayat president — the ruling party claimed it won 66 seats while its ally Apna Dal bagged one — the state Congress tweeted late at night, "The 'B' in BSP means BJP."

Mayawati hits out at Congress over BJP jibe

Responding to the jibe, Mayawati tweeted, "The Congress, which is running on oxygen in UP, is saying that the 'B' in BSP stands for BJP. This is objectionable as the 'B' in BSP stands for Bahujan, which includes SCs, STs, OBCs, religious minorities and other neglected groups that have a high number and are hence referred to as Bahujan."

She added, "Whereas the 'C' in Congress stands for 'cunning' party which got long tenures at Centre and states after getting votes of the Bahujans, but still kept them helpless and as slaves. And hence the BSP was formed and at the time, the BJP was not in power at the Centre and state."

The former chief minister claimed that it was well known that elections in Uttar Pradesh, big or small, could never be free and impartial under the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) or the BJP. "No one should expect it from them too. However, under the BSP governments in the state, small and big elections were held in a free and impartial manner," she added.

The BSP did not contest the Zila Panchayat president elections after Mayawati, on June 28, decided against it, alleging "misuse of government machinery" and "fraud" in the election process.

Responding to Mayawati's latest comments, UP Congress spokesperson Ashok Singh tweeted, "Each and every voter of the state is saying that the BSP is the spokesperson of the BJP and Mayawati should accept this truth."

On Friday, BSP chief called the Samajwadi Party "selfish", "anti-Dalit" and "narrow-minded". The BSP chief said most of the prominent political parties had "bitter experience" with the Samajwadi Party and will be ready to align with it, for which it is now "forced" to enter into an alliance with smaller parties. "Because of the SP's self-centred, narrow-minded and especially anti-Dalit thinking and style of working as well as past bitter experiences, most of the big and prominent political parties prefer to distance themselves from it," she had said.

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