PM Narendra Modi takes on Mayawati, asks why she is supporting Ashok Gehlot government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who hit out at the Congress government over a gangrape case in Rajasthan's Alwar, today shredded Mayawati over her comments condemning it. Pointing out that Mayawati is supporting the Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot, the Prime Minister accused her of shedding crocodile tears.
Rajasthan is one of the three heartland states the Congress had wrested from the BJP last year, but fell short of majority by a couple of seats. Mayawati, whose party won two and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party are supporting the Congress.
This time, the Congress is expected to give a tough fight to the BJP for Rajasthan's 25 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP is also facing challenge from the combined forces of Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav in the race for the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
"Today the daughters of Uttar Pradesh are asking Behen-ji (Mayawati) that the government in Rajasthan is running with your support and there, a girl from Scheduled Castes got raped. So Behen-ji, why have you not withdrawn your support?" PM Modi said in a Hindi post on Twitter.
"Had the Congress government's intention been right, they wouldn't have tried to suppress it (the news of the rape) But no, they have only one response - 'what happened, happened'," another Hindu tweet from him read. The reference was to Congress leader Sam Pitroda's comment on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which raised a political storm over the weekend.
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mayawati said he was indulging in "dirty politics" and demanded his resignation for incidents of Dalit atrocities in the past. "The BSP will for sure take an appropriate political decision in the absence of stringent and proper legal action in the case," she said in a press note.
Yesterday, Mayawati had criticised the Congress government in Rajasthan over the gang-rape of a Dalit woman on April 26.The woman's family said though the complaint was on April 30, the police held off filing a case because of the election. Rajasthan had voted on April 29 and May 6.
"The Congress government suppressed this incident till the end of election in Rajasthan to preserve their political benefits and threatened the family of the victim to keep quiet about it," Mayawati was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"We want the Supreme Court to act against the Congress, the police and the state administration and punish them as strictly as possible," she had said.