BSP leader Bhadoria condemns Sonia-Bukhari meeting, Mulayam Singh Yadav

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Sudhindra Bhadoria on Friday roundly condemned Congress president Sonia Gandhi's meeting with the imam of the Delhi-based Jama Masjid.

Emphatically stating that wrong precedents were being set, Bhadoria said: "I frown upon people or political parties, be it the BJP or the Congress, using people of religious persuasion or stature in the realm of politics. This is nothing but a vote-grabbing gimmick before the elections."

"Parties should ask for votes from the people on the basis of the work that they have done and achieved for the general public, such as what the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is doing under the leadership and stewardship of Mayawati."

He was reacting to Sonia Gandhi's meeting on Wednesday with Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari of Jama Masjid. It was reportedly held to convince Bukhari to prevent the "secular vote" from being split during the elections.

It is being reported by the media that the Shahi Imam has constituted a 10-member committee to look into the various aspects of the issue. It is widely expected that he will make a statement today supporting the Congress Party.

Bhadoria also criticised Samajwadi Party leader and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav for categorically demanding at his recent rally in Bulandshahr that Shiksha Mitra or government school teachers on contract must vote for his party, or else they would not be made permanent.

"This is wrong and highly condemnable. The Election Commission must act strongly against him," said Bhadoria.

On the Congress-BJP poster war in Varanasi, and the subsequent arrest and release on bail of Congress candidate Madhusudan Mistry, Bhadoria said he was not at all in favour of such political antics, but accepted that it is a reality of the Indian electoral process.

He refused to comment on the prospects of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).