Mayawati resignation: BJP calls move a 'drama' to create confusion

BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said the people will not be misled by Mayawati

The BJP on Tuesday slammed BSP supremo Mayawati's resignation from the Rajya Sabha, calling the move a "drama" aimed at "creating confusion" by raising an emotional pitch.

BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said the people will not be misled by her.

Talking to reporters here, he stated that Mayawati had lost the mandate among the masses and her six-year tenure in the Upper House would have anyway ended in the next session of Parliament, while suggesting that her action was driven more by "frustration".

He said the Dalit leader was given twice the allotted time to raise her issue in the House and it was "unfortunate" that she did not give due respect to the Chair.

She did not follow the parliamentary decorum while raising issues, Yadav, a Rajya Sabha member, said.

It was surprising that she chose to resign, he said.

"So the question is why did she do so? She has lost people's mandate. She is likely to be in frustration. Her tenure is anyway going to end in the next session.

"Some people are resorting to emotional pitch in politics by doing drama so as to create confusion. People will not be misled," he said.

The Modi government, Yadav said, had been working overtime to empower Dalits, backwards and the poor.

The saffron party had been successful in weaning away a section of the core vote bank of the BSP in the Lok Sabha and the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, sweeping both the elections and reducing Mayawati's party to a marginal status.

Mayawati has been strategising to reclaim her lost clout and had joined hands with opposition parties to take on the BJP.

The Dalit leader today tendered her resignation, hours after the Chair asked her to restrict her impromptu speech on alleged anti-Dalit violence in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur.