Mayawati rules out poll alliance, prime ministership issue after elections

BSP supremo Mayawati ruled out seat adjustment with any party in the Lok Sabha polls on Sunday and declared that the issue of the prime ministerial candidate of the Third Front would be decided after the elections.

The dinner meeting of the Front leaders to be hosted by her would not discuss the issue of prime ministership, she told a press conference here.

"The meeting has nothing to do with the issue of prime ministership. The issue will be decided only after the results of the 15th Lok Sabha polls are out," she said.

But definitely, the meeting would discuss plans to keep the UPA and NDA out of power, she said.

"All our allies are contesting the elections separately and after the elections, we will unitedly prevent the UPA and NDA from coming to power," she said, adding that the way the Front was being targeted showed that its detractors have become "panicky."

It was the "heartfelt desire" of party founder Kanshi Ram that BSP captured power at the Centre and in all the states, Mayawati, who has often been projected the party's prime ministerial candidate, said.

Mayawati released the BSP's "appeal" for the Lok Sabha elections in which she has promised that if her party came to power at the Centre, her government will provide reservation for upper castes. 

Mayawati said that her party will make an all out effort to ensure that UPA or NDA does not come to power.

She said the Left parties and some other parties were also engaged in this task with determination. "We hope that in this election, our purpose will be achieved," she said.

Replying to a question as to how many seats the BSP would contest nationwide, she said that it would made known within a fortnight.

She said that the leaders of the UPA and NDA appeared to be worried and concerned over the "rise" of the Front. "That is why they are coming up with baseless and silly arguments against the Front."

In the "Appeal," she attacked both the UPA and NDA, and alleged that their governments had failed to come out with "proper" economic policies which had hit the common man hard.

She also found fault with the alliances led by the Congress and the BJP in securing the borders, which, she alleged, had led to terrorists strikes.

Mayawati, who led the BSP to victory in the UP Assembly elections nearly two years ago, was critical of the Centre for "not giving a single rupee" to the state, even though her government had sought a package of Rs 80,000 crore for development in UP.

Slamming the "wrong policies" of the successive governments at the Centre, Mayawati claimed that the economic policies have been tailored to "suit the needs" of capitalists, as political parties depended on corporates for funds.

In her poll "Appeal", she charged the Congress and the BJP with gradually trying to end reservation by handing over certain government departments and institutions to the private sector.

Mayawati said that the BSP government in UP had ensured the reservation system, even after a government department was handed over to the private sector.

She recalled Dr BR Ambedkar's assertion that a party can bring about changes in the country only after it gets the "master key of political power."

On economic policies of any future government headed by the BSP, Mayawati merely said that "our economic policies, as also foreign policy, would be in the interest of the nation and the society as a whole."