By IANS,
Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress party has alleged that Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) withdrawal of support to the central government demonstrated a secret understanding between Chief Minister Mayawati and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership.
The state unit of the BJP, on the other hand, alleged that the whole thing was a ploy by the Congress and the BSP to divert public attention from the alarming price rise in the country and the “deteriorating credibility” of the Mayawati government in the state.
BSP’s chief rival Samajwadi Party (SP) maintained a studied silence on the issue. “We are only watching the developments and have not crystallised our position, but it’s more between BSP and the Congress,” SP spokesperson Rajesh Choudhary told IANS.
UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said Saturday evening: “The very fact that Mayawati had fielded candidates in the states which went to polls during the last one year strategically to help the BJP gave her away.”
She alleged the real reason for Mayawati withdrawing support, “which had never been sought”, was the refusal of the centre to help her in dealing with cases pending against her in the Supreme Court.
“The BSP was never a part of the UPA government and the withdrawal of support had no meaning. We had never asked for her support in any case,” Joshi asserted.
She scoffed at Mayawati’s allegation that the centre was meting out step-motherly treatment towards the development needs of Uttar Pradesh and said at present the state was getting maximum financial assistance from the central government.
Joshi said the Planning Commission had increased the Uttar Pradesh (UP) annual plan size to Rs.250 billion from Rs.90 billion in the previous four years.
“The centre thus hiked the state’s allocation by 400 percent but UP’s development index has not risen even by four percent,” she said.
State BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi told IANS: “This is all a drama, a conspiracy between BSP and Congress to divert public attention from rising prices nationally and Mayawati’s falling credibility in UP.”
He wondered if Mayawati’s withdrawing support to the centre made any difference to anyone, Congress or BSP. “The UPA Government is not running on BSP support, never was. This itself shows this is all a stunt.”
Asked about the Congress allegation that BSP and BJP were working in tandem, Tripathi said: “There is no question of that. Mayawati is self-centred and not trustworthy at all for the BJP to have any truck with her.”
He said the proof of a secret tie-up between Congress and BSP was the UP governor’s refusal to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute Mayawati in corruption cases.