Mayawati voices PM ambitions

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday voiced her prime ministerial ambitions by asking party workers to ensure a “big victory” for the party in the next Lok Sabha elections so that she could deliver the Independence Day speech from the Red Fort.

Trying to position herself for a national role, Mayawati also cautioned her party cadre against becoming a “saleable commodity”

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats, roughly 15 per cent of the total seats at stake.

Mayawati, currently a member of Parliament from the Rajya Sabha, said her party workers should remain alert against forces that might “try to corrupt them” during the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. “Don’t become a saleable commodity,” she warned.  

She also demanded stringent punishment to those involved in the VVIP helicopter scam.

She accused the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party of conspiring to stall the Bill on quota in promotion for SCs/STs in government jobs and promised that if her party came to power at the Centre, it would ensure the Bill was implemented. The Congress-led government could also have filed a review petition in the Supreme Court, which had quashed the UP government’s decision on reservation in promotions for SC/STs, but it did not, Mayawati alleged.

Congress also had the option of asking a competent legal counsel to defend the case of continuing the reservation quota in promotions, but it did not do so, she said. Both Congress and BJP conspired to deny the rights to lakhs of government employees, she alleged and asked the cadre to remain equidistant from both the parties.

BSP had to take the fight to streets and finally to Parliament, she said, adding “though we have succeeded partially, as the Rajya Sabha has passed the Amendment Bill, but it is still pending in the Lok Sabha.”

Opposing the foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, Mayawati said the UPA government should adopt developmental policies, which would benefit the general public.

She also criticised the direct cash transfer in subsidy schemes saying it would not help the poor. She supported creation of a Telangana state and favoured statehood to Vidarbha.