BJP will withdraw reservation if voted to power, warns Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Saturday accused the BJP of "deceiving" the people through its "false promises" and warned that if the BJP was voted to power in Uttar Pradesh it would withdraw caste-based reservation.

"With its Lok Sabha poll promises yet to be fulfilled, the BJP has no moral right to release its manifesto for Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has been in power for almost three years at the Centre now but it has not even fulfilled one-forth of its promises," Mayawati said.

Accusing the Narendra Modi government of coming to power riding on "false promises", Mayawati said the Centre has been indulging in theatrics one after the other.

"Sometimes in the name of surgical strikes and sometimes in the name of fighting black money, the government has been doing drama one after the other," she said within hours of BJP chief Amit Shah releasing the party manifesto at the state capital here.

"Unable to divert the people's attention from its failures, this government suddenly demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. People especially farmers, daily wagers and economically weaker sections of the society are yet to overcome the sufferings of demonetisation," she said.

Dubbing the BJP manifesto as "nothing but deceit", the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister warned the people against voting for the BJP.

"The BJP has absolute majority at the Centre and if they come to power in Uttar Pradesh, they will enact laws withdrawing reservation for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes.

"People should never forget the incidents Rohit Vemula or the burning of Dalit children in Faridabad," added Mayawati.