Inaugurating half-baked projects will not strengthen BJP's base: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati hit out at the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday, saying mere announcements, laying foundation stones and inaugurating half-baked projects will not strengthen the base of the ruling BJP.

She also congratulated the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on completing 100 years and hoped that in the 2022 Punjab Assembly polls, the SAD-BSP alliance will secure a comfortable majority and form the government.

"Before the announcement of the polls, the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government are making announcements one after the other, laying foundation stones and inaugurating half-baked projects. This will not strengthen the base of the BJP and the people of the state have understood this very clearly. Even then, I would like to appeal to people to remain cautious of such tricks," Mayawati told reporters here.

Her remarks came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the ambitious Kashi Vishvanath Corridor project. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda were also present on the occasion.

Apparently referring to the induction of the expelled Brahmin leaders of the BSP from the Purvanchal region into the Samajwadi Party (SP), Mayawati said, "Inducting expelled and selfish people from other parties ahead of the (2022) Uttar Pradesh polls is not going to help any party. On the contrary, people will term these highly-selfish elements 'ayaram, gayaram' (party-hoppers)." "It is being portrayed by the media as a big development that is going to impact the people of the state. However, the fact is that there is not even an iota of truth in it. The BSP tries to keep itself clean from this type of politics," she added.

Congratulating the SAD on completing 100 years, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, "There are a very few parties in the country that have served the people for more than 100 years and the Shiromai Akali Dal is one such old regional party, which is fighting for the people of Punjab for the past 100 years and is doing so even now." "Punjab holds a special place in my heart. For decades, the relationship between the BSP and the SAD has been strong. Punjab is the place of birth of BSP founder Kanshiram, where he fought for the uplift of the 'bahujan' (downtrodden) samaj," she said.

The SAD forged an alliance with the BSP in June for next year's Punjab Assembly polls. According to the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties, the BSP will field candidates in 20 of the 117 Assembly seats in the state, while the rest will be contested by the SAD.