MAYAWATI SLAMS ‘CHEAT’ CONG AFTER 6 BSP MLAs DEFECT

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday hit out at the Congress saying it is “unreliable and untrustworthy” a day after all six Rajasthan lawmaker of her party defected to the state’s ruling party.

Joginder Singh Awana, Deep Chand, Rajendra Singh Gudha, Lakhan Singh, Wajib Ali and Sandeep Kumar on Monday announced their decision to join the Congress, raising its strength to 106 in a 200-member state assembly. The Congress now has the support of 119 lawmakers. They include the lone Rashtriya Lok Dal and 12 of 13 independent lawmakers.

In a series of tweets, Mayawati said the Congress has once again shown how untrustworthy it is. She added it amounted to cheating with the BSP movement even as her party offered the Congress unconditional support. Mayawati accused the Congress of harming the parties that support it instead of fighting its bitter rivals. She called Congress “an anti-Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class party”. The BSP leader said the Congress has “never been serious or honest about rights and reservation”.

“Congress has always been against Bhimrao Ambedkar and his humanitarian ideology, and this is why he had to resign as the law minister [in 1951]. It is unfortunate that the Congress never awarded Ambedkar the Bharat Ratna...”

It was not immediately clear what impact will the defections in Rajasthan have on the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, which is dependent on two BSP lawmakers. The Congress, which has 114 lawmakers in the 230member assembly in Madhya Pradesh, also has the support of a Samajwadi Party and four independent lawmakers. The Congress was voted to power in Madhya Pradesh along with Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh last year.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot called Mayawati’s reaction obvious. “She should think there is not a government of her party in [Rajasthan] nor is there is a possibility of it. The MLAs understand the situation and want to get their work and development done.” He added that is why they defected to his party. Gehlot insisted they never pressured, lured or managed the lawmakers.

“We have never been involved in horse-trading and have never lured any. It is the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party], which in other states like Madhya Pradesh is offering ~20-25 crore to MLAs. But there is no such deal here [Rajasthan].”

IN A SERIES OF TWEETS, MAYAWATI SAID THE CONGRESS HAS ONCE AGAIN SHOWN HOW UNTRUSTWORTHY IT IS