Mayawati said transfer of Yadav votes did not work out, resulting in the election disaster
Highlights
- Mayawati has been picking on Samajwadi Party since Lok Sabha poll loss.
- At today's meet, she didn't even spare party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
- She claims that the UP grand alliance did not benefit from Yadav votes.
Mayawati, who was gentle on Akhilesh Yadav even while breaking the alliance after the crushing defeat in the national election, has turned on her estranged ally, accusing him of ignoring political niceties and dredging up past misgivings.
She accused him of not calling her after the results, and working "against non-Yadav backward communities" and even neglecting the Muslims while he was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Party sources indicate that the remarks were made with an eye to a string of by-elections on assembly seats coming up later this year.
A section of top leaders in the Bahujan Samaj Party has attributed the party's defeat to the alliance with Akhilesh Yadav. Dalits, the party's primary voter base, have a traditional rivalry with Yadavs, who support Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. So the alliance, in which they were also expected to vote for Samajwadi candidates on many seats, did not go down too well with the BSP voters.
The Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav combo failed to replicate the success of bypolls last year, managing only 15 of UP's 80 seats, far less than the BJP's rich haul of 62. Mayawati has blamed it on the Samajwadi Party's failure to transfer its vote base to her BSP. However, her party made more gains - from zero in 2014, the BSP rose to 10 seats.
Under the circumstances, a course correction was needed, sources indicated. And Mayawati today said: "After the mahagathbandhan lost the elections, I received no call from Akhilesh. BSP general secretary Satish Mishra asked him to speak to me, but he just wouldn't listen. But because I am senior to him, I called him up instead and expressed sadness over his family members losing."
Mayawati also accused Akhilesh Yadav of discriminating against the Muslim community at the meeting. "When I was handing out tickets for the Lok Sabha election, Akhilesh sent a message through Satish Mishra that I should not give tickets to Muslims to prevent polarisation of votes. But I did not agree," she said, adding that people did not vote for their alliance because the Samajwadi Party president had "worked against non-Yadav backward communities" when he headed the state.
Barely three weeks ago, while calling the alliance "bekaar" (useless), she said the relation with Akhilesh Yadav wold remain cordial, as he was "not like his father (Mulayam Singh Yadav)".
Her criticism of Mulayam Singh Yadav was still more scathing. "Apart from the BJP, Mulayam also played a role in trying to frame me in the Taj corridor case," she said, referring to charges of corruption levelled against her in connection with a project for upgradation of tourist facilities near the Taj Mahal.
Ten days after the general election results emerged, Mayawati announced that the BSP would contest the forthcoming assembly bypolls alone. "The alliance is worthless. Yadav votes were not transferred to us but our votes did go to them. The Samajwadi Party won only where Muslims voted heavily for them," she said back then, adding that Akhilesh Yadav "could not even ensure his wife Dimple Yadav's victory".