Mayawati cries foul over Kashi Vishwanath Dham inauguration; 'Voter base won't expand'

Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, BSP supremo Mayawati cried foul over the inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Dham project by PM Modi ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. She contended that the voter base of BJP won't expand merely by making announcements and unveiling "half-finished" projects on the eve of elections. On this occasion, the former UP CM also took a swipe at SP for inducting Chillupar MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari who was expelled from BSP for indulging in indiscipline and misbehaving with senior office-bearers of the party.

Mayawati opined, "Some parties are assuring many persons a ticket for the same seat and garnering a decent crowd as a result. Before the announcement of the election, the voter base of these opposition parties will not increase owing to the announcements, foundation stone laying and inauguration of half-finished projects the Centre and the UP government. The people of UP have understood this quite well. Even then, I appeal to the people of UP to remain cautious of such tactics."

"Before the Assembly election in UP, the mass base of the party will not increase by inducting expelled, inactive and selfish leaders from other parties. In fact, people call most of these selfish elements 'Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram'. Besides this, they don't look at the party in a good way. However, this is projected as if this is a big event to influence the people. Even if there is no truth in it. That's why BSP tries its best to keep itself away from such kind of politics," the BSP chief lashed out at SP. 

BSP's MLA strength plummets 

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, BJP won a whopping 312 seats in the 403-member House, whereas BSP could win only 19 seats. On the other hand, the SP-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it could win in only 54 constituencies. The Mayawati-led party is eyeing a comeback in the state in the upcoming Assembly election after being out of power for 9 years now. 

At present, BSP has merely 5 MLAs in the Assembly. While one member resigned after winning the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Hakim Lal Bind, Vandana Singh, Ramveer Upadhyay, Anil Kumar Singh, Aslam Raini, Aslam Ali, Mujtaba Siddiqui, Hargovind Bhargava and Sushma Patel were expelled ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls in October 2020 in a bid to defeat BSP's candidate Ramji Gautam. On June 3, two more BSP MLAs- Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbhar were sacked from the party for allegedly indulging in anti-party activities during the Panchayat election.

In another blow to BSP, its Legislative Party leader Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali resigned from the party on November 25. This was followed by the expulsion of Chillupar MLA Vinay Shankar Tiwari on the grounds of "indiscipline" and misbehaviour with senior party functionaries. Mayawati is yet to commence her full-fledged election campaign for the UP polls.