Karnal, October 5
To broaden its base and move beyond the traditional Dalit vote bank, BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday said her party had given a fair share to all communities in ticket distribution. “The party has picked Arvind Sharma, a Brahmin, as its chief ministerial candidate for Haryana,” said Mayawati at a rally in Karnal.

Playing the non-Jat card, she urged the electorate to vote for Sharma. Hitting out at all opposition parties, she said the BSP was contesting most Haryana seats on its own. “We don’t have an alliance with any party,” she said. Taking on PM Narendra Modi, Mayawati said the BJP has failed to fulfil the ‘acche din promise.’

“The inflation was at an all-time high and things have only got worse for the poor,” she said. In her 31-minute speech, the four-time former Chief Minister told the gathering about the pro-poor policies adopted by the BSP when it was in power in UP and promised to replicate the same model in Haryana. She claimed the Congress and the BJP were copying BSP’s programmes and branding them as their own. Giving a slogan ‘Saravjan Hitaye Saravjan Sukhaye (prosperity for all)’, Mayawati said the BSP doesn’t believe in releasing election manifestoes. “Such documents were aimed only at misleading people. The BSP does things that are in the interest of the poor,” she said. “If voted to power in Haryana, we will give three acres of unused government land to landless farmers and build two-room houses for the poor,” she said.

Rally sidelights

Mayawati was sitting on a sofa at the centre of the stage. BJP candidates, including CM nominee Arvind Sharma, were made to sit nearly six feet away from her

The crowd frenzy gave organisers a tough time

Mayawati said the BSP would bring quota on economic basis after coming to power in Haryana. The BSP would also press for reservation on economic basis at the national level