Mayawati's ideology is not dangerous unlike BJP: Rahul Gandhi

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said that Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati's ideology is not dangerous unlike the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and added that he has immense respect for the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister despite the fact that her government made some mistakes during its rule in the state.

"I have an immense respect for Bahujana Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati ji. The BSP worked efficiently during its reign and also committed some mistakes, but still I respect Mayawati ji," he told the media during a joint press briefing with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

Gandhi lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while accusing the saffron party of making one Indian fight against the other.

"Their (BJP) ideology is dangerous for our country. We want to end the politics of anger perpetuated by the RSS-BJP. This Samajwadi Party-Congress partnership is an answer to politics of division and hate," Gandhi said.

"But Mayawati's ideology is not of any danger to us. We will show the BJP that you cannot divide this country, cannot trample over people and win elections," he added.

Meanwhile, when asked whether Mayawati's BSP could have been part of the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, Akhilesh in a sarcastic tone said, "How do we give her space, her election symbol itself is an elephant."

Uttar Pradesh will be voting for a new state assembly in a seven-phase election between February 11 and March 8. Out of the 403 assembly seats, Congress will be contesting in 105 seats and the Samajwadi Party will field its candidates in rest of the 298 seats.