Stepping up her attack no Rahul Gandhi and the government at the Centre, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati asked him to stop his "political drama"
LUCKNOW: Stepping up her attack no Rahul Gandhi and the government at the Centre, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati asked him to stop his "political drama" on Saturday and repeated her threat of withdrawing support to the UPA coalition.
Addressing a press conference a day after Gandhi staged a dharna in Jhansi in Bhundelkhand region, she told him that instead of enacting a "political drama" to hide the Congess defeat in the recent bye elections, which he has been doing for the last two days, he should, as an MP from the state, persuade the Centre to implement the special development package for Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati told a press conference that the Congress "prince" has inherited political power and does not not understand politics. He has forgotten that inflation was the biggest problem facing the people and the Central government could fall anytime on the issue, she said.
Fresh from her triumph of sweeping all the five bye elections elections this week, the BSP supremo, whose party has 17 members in the Lok Sabha, repeated her threat of withdrawing its support to the government at the Centre if it failed to provide special economic package of Rs 80,000 crores for development of eastern parts and the Bundelkhand region and check inflation within three months time.
"This is the last warning," Mayawati said adding she would be sending the letter of withdrawal of support without any warning to the President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi if the Centre failed on these two fronts.
BSP and Congress are locked in a bitter exchange of words and Rahul Gandhi had been attacking the state government during his recent tours.
The young Congress leader had accused the government of paying lip sympathy to the cause of dalits and Mayawati hit back with a claim that whenever Gandhi goes back to Delhi after staying at Dalit homes he took bath with special soap and "purified" himself with perfume and incense sticks.
Referring to Rahul Gandhi's Bundelkhand tour, she said that her political opponents were bent upon misleading the people of the drought-hit area after the recent drubbing during the by elections.
"Instead of indulging in petty party politics Congress workers and its yuvraj (prince) should channelise their energies and intelligence on their party and on the central government so that inflation could be contained", she said.
Mayawati also advised Rahul Gandhi to desist from "drama" in the name of Bundelkhand where she claimed that her government had been working relentlessly to provide relief with its limited resources.
'The region had also experienced how passively the Congress had worked during its almost 40 years rule", she said.
Mayawati, who had demanded a special package for eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bundelkhand regions soon after coming to power in May 2007, had also issued a warning of withdrawal of support on January 7 on the issue.
Mayawati also threatened launch a countrywide agitation against the UPA government on issues like rising prices.
She said she would send the letter of withdrawal of support to President Pratibha Patil and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and "without any further warning" launch a nationwide movement against the central government in the interest of the people.
The chief minister also took a snipe at the opposition Samajwadi Party, BJP and Congress by saying her "elephant' (party symbol) had trampled them after which these parties had been issuing "misleading statements" about the BSP.
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