M A I N   N E W S

BSP, SP rule out truck with Cong
Our Correspondent

Lucknow, March 13
It was a day of Congress bashing in Uttar Pradesh. On the one hand the BSP ruled out any alliance with the Congress for the coming Lok Sabha elections, while on the other, the SP suggested that if the Congress wanted it could walk out of the ruling alliance in the state.

After keeping the Congress guessing for over two months, BSP President Mayawati today declared that her party would not have any alliance with the Congress or any other party at the national level.

“We will contest the coming Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections on our own. We will have no alliance with the Congress at any stage,” she said, while addressing a rally in here today.

She said the Congress wanted to have an alliance with them, but it was sailing on two boats. “On the one hand it wanted an alliance with us, but on the other, it was supporting the SP in the state, which has a clandestine understanding with the BJP,” she alleged.

“How can the BSP have an alliance with the Congress, which is supporting a party that had disbanded districts and commissionaires created on the names of Dalit icons?” she said.

Attacking the Congress, she said the party had done little for the Dalit community and the poor when in was in power at the Centre. “The Congress ruled the country for over 45 years, but it did little for the uplift of the Dalits and the downtrodden,” she said.

“Congress leaders even ridiculed Dr Ambedkar because he was soft towards the Dalits,” Mayawati said.

Chiding the SP-led government, Mayawati said the Dalits and poor were not safe under its regime. “It is an anti-Dalit government, controlled by industrialists,” she said.

On the similar lines, General Secretary of the SP Amar Singh also ruled out any alliance with the Congress and said it (Congress) could walk out of the ruling alliance if it wished.

“Earlier there were chances of an alliance with the Congress, but with senior Congress leader Arjun Singh criticising the SP, there is no question of forging it now”, he said.

Arjun Singh, in a press conference, had yesterday said that the Congress was not happy with the performance of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government and was contemplating to withdraw support from it.

“We have a majority. We do not need the Congress support. If the Congress wants, it can withdraw its support,” Amar Singh said.