A day after Rahul Gandhi’s attack on Mayawati, the BSP supremo hit back, rejecting claims that Congress had offered her the chief ministership of the alliance. The former UP chief minister attacked the Grand Old Party, saying it had “never sided with the Dalits”.
“Rahul Gandhi himself is plagued by a racist mentality and he is blaming me. He is lying, I have not received any offer and the Congress has never sided with the Dalits, ”he said.
Gandhi on Saturday claimed that the party had extended a proposal to the BSP for an alliance before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, even offering him the chief ministership in case of a joint victory. “However, we did not get any answer,” Gandhi said at a function.
Now, rejecting the demands, Mayawati has further accused the Congress of “always trying to humiliate and weaken the BSP”. “Rahul can’t decorate his house,” he said, commenting on the party’s performance in the recent assembly elections in five states.
Commenting on Rahul’s jib that she feared ‘CBI, ED and Pegasus’, Mayawati said that even Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister and Rahul Gandhi’s late father, tried to discredit the BSP.
“Now, even Priyanka Gandhi is saying the same thing, claiming that I am afraid of the ED and other investigating agencies. This is all a lie. They should be aware that we have fought and won all these cases in the Supreme Court, ”Mayawati said.
Both the BSP and the Congress have seen disappointing performances in the elections in Uttar Pradesh, with one and two seats in their name, respectively.
Political commentators claimed that Rahul’s remarks came in the light of the Congress’ lost voter base for Dalits, Muslims and Brahmins in the 1980s. They said the opportunity came in the light of Mayawati’s worst performance in the state, in which she has held the top post four times.
“Mayawati did not elect, we gave her the message to form an alliance but she did not respond. Kanshiram G raised the voice of Dalits in UP, though it influenced the Congress. This time he did not fight for Dalit voice because there are CBI, ED and Pegasus, ”Rahul said on Saturday.
Mayawati had earlier blamed the BJP for tarnishing her image in the minds of Muslim voters as the reason for her defeat. However, political experts said it was a failure of Mayawati’s votebank algorithm and a deviation from the BSP’s core ideology which could contribute to the party’s disappointing score.
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