Mayawati has been a staunch critic of the PM Modi government
A day after four Telugu Desam Party lawmakers decided to switch to the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati ridiculed the Narendra Modi-led party for "engineering" their "defection" in the Rajya Sabha, and said "everything is fair in BJP brand of politics".
"Yesterday when the President was giving assurances to the country on the behalf of the government, the BJP on the same day engineered defection of four TDP MPs," she tweeted in Hindi.
"It is clear that everything is fair in BJP brand of politics and nothing is wrong," she added.
Mayawati went on to say that the BJP had earlier dubbed two of these TDP lawmakers as "corrupt", but now after joining their party, they have become "doodh ka dhula" (pure).
Four of TDP's six Rajya Sabha lawmakers - YS Chowdary, CM Ramesh, Garikapoati Mohan Rao, TG Venkatesh - met Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday and gave him a letter that said they have "decided to merge" the TDP's Legislature Party with the BJP with immediate effect.
The switch was led by YS Chowdary, who was named TDP leader in Rajya Sabha just a few days ago. Considered close to TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, he was a minister of state in the first Narendra Modi-led NDA government till March last year when TDP pulled out of the coalition.
Mayawati has been a staunch critic of the PM Modi government and skipped the all-party meeting called by him to discuss the "One Nation One Election" initiative saying she would have attended if EVMs were on the agenda.
The BSP chief contended that the discussion on "One Nation, One Election" is the BJP's new ploy to divert people's attention from "how EVMS are being manipulated in an organised manner to hijack country's democracy".
Mayawati and her party also skipped the informal dinner of all lawmakers the prime minister called on Thursday.