Mayawati addresses the press after her party's defeat in the Rajya Sabha polls
Mayawati addressed the press after her Bahujan Samajwadi Party was defeated in a keenly-fought battle for a Rajya Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh yesterday. She had hinted that the setback in Friday's election was unlikely to impact her party's new partnership with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi party. She had also attacked the Yogi Adityanath government for using money and fear to get lawmakers to switch sides.
Here are the highlights of her address:
- When the Rajya polls were announced in UP, the high command of the Samajwadi Party and the BSP got together and decided to ensure that the BJP's ninth candidate should not be able to win and also that this election should not be a medium for horse trading
- It was then decided that the BSP would field a candidate and the SP would transfer 9-10 votes. This is the same time we decided to support anti-BJP candidates in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls
- The result of the bypolls were such that it resonated across the country
- This move has been welcome by people across the country, but for the BJP old habits die hard. They pushed a ninth candidate so that voting would happen
- This led to the possibilities of horse trading and mischief
- The BJP tried to drive a wedge between us even in the Rajya Sabha polls yesterday. They misused government machinery and used unconstitutional means. The BJP wants the SP-BSP unity to fracture.
- This is a conspiracy and that's why the BJP got our candidate to lose
- Our response to the loss is same as it is of the public - that PM Modi and the Yogi government have like always misused government machinery and perpetrated government terror and fear and got a dhanna-seth elected
- This is a living proof of how the BJP believes in money power. The people know about all this horse trading
- Some MLAs have cross voted out of fear. Fear of prosecution and investigating agencies
- But I congratulate those who refused to get intimidated
- Despite all this, our candidate Mr Ambedkar got more first preference votes
- Only one person for his business greed did not vote and we have ousted him