By IANS,
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders Tuesday called on the people to help make party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati the prime minister, asserting that only she could bring down prices and tackle the other crises facing the country.
A day after Monday’s nationwide shutdown called separately by the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the BSP staged protests against rising prices at each of the 71 district headquarters across the state.
Addressing a rally here to mark the BSP’s protest against the United Progressive Alliance government’s failure to contain rising prices, state multi-portfolio minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui claimed that Mayawati alone was the answer to all ills faced by the country.
“While we urge the central government to roll back the prices of petrol and petroleum products, we must also resolve here today to herald Behen Mayawati as the country’s next prime minister, because she is the only leader who has the mettle to check and curb price rise,” he said.
“I am confident that with Mayawati at the helm of affairs, the nation would not find it difficult to tide over many a crises facing us,” he claimed.
While Siddiqui led the demonstration in Lucknow, other BSP ministers and prominent party leaders were detailed to lead similar demonstrations in their respective areas of influence.
No violence was reported from any part of the state during the protest except from Kanpur where an exchange of fire between two rival groups within the BSP left two injured.