BSP chief Mayawati today accused the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh of "misleading" the people - and in the process made attempts to connect with the Brahmin community, as she began her party's campaign for the assembly elections in the state scheduled for next year. The party would hold a ''Brahmin Sammelan'' on July 23 in Ayodhya to connect with the community, she said.
The BSP, Mayawati said, will ensure the interests of the Brahmin community are safe when it comes to power.
"I'm very hopeful that Brahmins will not vote for the BJP in the next Assembly polls. A campaign in the leadership of BSP General Secretary SC Mishra will be launched from Ayodhya on July 23 to connect with Brahmin community and assure them that their interests are safe in BSP rule only," Mayawati said.
The Brahimin community should support her party like the Dalit community which has remained loyal to her party despite "money power" and other methods to influence them by the BJP, she said.
"The BJP and Congress used all means to influence Dalits. They used money power, people say, made false promises, and even used media to influence Dalit community. But the good thing is that Dalits have not been mislead by these fake promises. Though we lost the last assembly election, the vote percentage from the Dalit community has been intact. It has not even gone to the Samajwadi party," she said.
"The Brahmin community are regretting their votes to the BJP in the last elections. The BJP will again make attempts to mislead the people as they begin campaigning for state polls," the BSP chief warned.
However, Mayawati said, she was confident that the Brahmin community will support her party like in 2007.
Ms Mayawati's appeal to Brahmins comes amid reports that the community feels sidelined by the Yogi Adityanath government.
Mayawati who traditionally dominated the Dalit votebank, came to power in 2007 on the back of a unique combination - the majority of 21 per cent Dalit vote coupled with the 11 per cent Brahmin vote. In the 2007 state polls, Mayawati fielded 85 candidates from the Brahmin community.
"Tilak lagega haathi par, baaki sab baishaki par (The elephant will get the votes, the rest will be on crutches)," the Mayawati's party had engineered the slogan in the election.
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