Mayawati urges Muslims to vote for BSP to defeat BJP in UP

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday urged Muslims to vote en-masse for the party candidates during the upcoming polls to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh.

The BSP chief urged them not to get swayed by promises of the Congress or Uttar Pradesh ruling Samajwadi Party (SP).

"I want to appeal to Muslim brothers, if you really want to push the Bharatiya Janata Party out of Uttar Pradesh and defeat them at each and every seat, I want to tell the Muslim community that you shouldn't fall for the Congress' bait or the Samajwadi Party's bait, you should not divide your vote, and you should vote en-masse to the BSP candidates," said Mayawati in northern town of Muzaffarnagar.

She also alleged that Samajwadi Party's government in Uttar Pradesh had hatched a strategy to further stoke up 2013 communal riots in Muzaffarnagar, if she had visited the place.

"At that time I came to know through special sources that the Samajwadi Party government has hatched a strategy to further stoke up the communal riots, if Mayawati visited the place, and to put the blame at Bahujan Samaj Party's doorsteps," added Mayawati.

Mayawati alleged that the BJP government had implicated her in false cases in 2004 as she had refused to ally with them to contest then parliamentary polls.

"I had resigned. Then they had framed me in the Taj corridor case and disproportionate assets case by misusing the CBI (federal police, Central Bureau of Investigation) and other agencies. I bore the harassment but I didn't strengthen the communal forces by contesting polls with them," she added.