Muzaffarnagar:
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday said her party will take concrete steps to make western Uttar Pradesh a separate state if the Center comes to power.
Speaking here in support of BSP candidate from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat Dara Singh Prajapati, Mayawati also said that the BJP has a very slim chance of coming back to power.
“You want western Uttar Pradesh to become a separate state. Concrete steps will be taken in this regard when our government comes to power at the Centre,” Mayawati told the gathering.
The BSP chief said if free and fair elections are held and voting machines are not tampered with, the BJP will not come to power this time.
“Most of the BJP's time was spent making richer and protecting rich businessmen. The BJP and other parties run their organizations and contest elections with the support of these companies. This was reflected in electoral bond data,” she added.
The former Prime Minister lashed out at the BJP government for not recruiting people for vacant posts reserved for backward communities and for making reservations in promotion redundant.
“In the last few years, when the BJP was in power at the Center and in most states, the progress of Muslims has stalled to a large extent. Violence in the name of religion has increased here,” Mayawati said, adding that poor people of general category have also not received any benefits under the BJP rule.
Prajapati is pitted against Sanjeev Kumar Balyan of the BJP and Harendra Singh Malik of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Before her meeting here, Mayawati also addressed a public meeting in Saharanpur district.
The eight parliamentary constituencies of Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19.
The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
The BS fought the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the SP and managed to secure victory on 10 seats.
The party has decided to go solo this time. The SP, Congress and All India Trinamool Congress are contesting as part of the INDIA bloc and the BJP, Apna Dal (S), NISHAD Party and SBSP are part of the NDA alliance.
Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the highest among all states in the country.
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