Mayawati vows to oust 'government of goons' in UP

BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday vowed to oust the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and return to power to "uproot mafias and goons".

Addressing a large gathering of party workers here on the birth anniversary of Bhimrao Ambedkar, the four-time UP chief minister took on the BJP and the Congress as well.

She labelled all three parties as "opportunists" who she said were wooing Dalits only for political and electoral gains.

"I am cautioning the Dalits not only of Uttar Pradesh but the whole country to be watchful of the sweet talk by these parties as this is meant only for electoral gains and has no seriousness," she said.

Urging her support base to act as "master keys to political power" as espoused by Ambedkar, she said the time had come to uproot what she said was the anti-Dalit government in UP in the assembly polls next year.

She explained that she got her own statues installed during her rule in UP in 2007-12 as per the "verbal wishes and a written will" of her mentor and Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram.

After that, she said, other parties plotted against her and slammed her for erecting elephant statues in parks.

"They said these were attempts by me to promote the party symbol but the fact was that they were used as welcome symbols."