Congress, BJP responsible for terrorist attacks: Mayawati

Spearheading the BSP campaign in Odisha, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday attacked BJP and Congress party by calling them "corrupt" and held the two parties responsible for frequent terrorist attacks as they could not secure the country's borders.

Addressing an election rally here, Mayawati said: "I want to remind you that for a long time the governments in the country has been of corrupt Congress and BJP. Due to its misdeeds, poor functioning, casteist approach, the Congress party was thrown out of power in the country. The BJP will meet the same fate in the Lok Sabha polls."

"BJP and Congress' drama and game plan will not work this time. The Congress party was involved in Bofors. Now the BJP is involved in Rafale. Today, terrorist attacks are common because of these two governments could not secure the country's border," she said.

Claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi led NDA government at the Centre has not met one-fourth of its poll promises, the BSP chief said: "PM Modi made people see the dream of 'achche din' but till date, he has not done anything to help them realise this dream. He has lied about it. The way PM Modi's government implemented GST and demonetisation that affected small businesses, and also led to increases in unemployment."

Targeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik led BJD government, Mayawati said: "The state government, despite making promises like the BJP government at the Centre, has not done anything concrete to fulfill those promises. The Scheduled Tribes, SCs, and other backward castes do not have a proper reservation in government jobs."

The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will begin from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.

Odisha has 21 Lok Sabha and 147 Assembly seats and the state will witness simultaneous elections in the first four phases -- April 11, 18, 23 and 29.