Mayawati rules out poll alliance

'We will decide the PM issue after elections'.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati today said her political aim in showing up unity with the newly formed Third Front was to keep the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their allies out of power after the Lok Sabha elections.

Unveiling her poll strategy, Mayawati said her party and other constituents of the Third Front would contest independently and were planning to come together only after the elections. “Our aim is to keep the Congress, the BJP and their close allies out of the power after the elections,” she said.

Placing the Congress and BJP on equal platform, Mayawati said: “They (BJP and Congress) are not the future of India as both these parties have bad policies and evil intentions.”

Mayawati has hosted a dinner for the leaders of the third Front, which came into being at a rally hosted by JD(S) strongman and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda in Karnataka.

The Left-led Front, this time, was propped up after the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Orissa walking out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-Samajwadi Party combine failing to materialise.

However, she parried questions about her reported condition that the Third Front should project her as the prime ministerial candidate. “We will decide the issue of the prime minister after the elections,” she said.

The BSP chief also denied the speculation that she hosted tonight’s dinner particularly to discuss the primeministership.

However, Mayawati said the BSP had decided not to ally with any other party and it would field candidates in most of the constituencies. “We are working on realising the dream of Kanshi Ram ji (BSP founder) who had wanted to see a BSP government at the Centre,” she said.

The BSP, she said, would stick to its policy of not releasing any political manifesto for the election. “We have always believed in deeds than making populist promises to the people for their votes,” she added.

Holding both the Congress and BJP responsible for not having done enough during their regimes at the Centre to change the socio-economic conditions of the people, Mayawati said her “government in UP had shown a road map for even development of all communities”.

The BSP chief also hit out at the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its weak economic and foreign policies. She blamed it for not doing enough to ward off the threat from terrorists to India’s sovereignty.