Lok Sabha polls: Mayawati launches BSP campaign, raises EVM tampering fears

“There is a huge gap between the words and deeds of the BJP leaders but people have become aware of their jumlabazi and nautanki. The party made countless promises to the people of the country before coming to power in 2014 but not even one fourth of them were fulfilled,” she alleged.

The BSP, she added, is the only party which speaks less but delivers on the ground, which is why it never released its election manifesto before going to the polls.

“Our party was in power (in UP) for four terms and without making unattainable promises we worked for the upliftment of the poor and the downtrodden. The BSP has not entered into an alliance with the BJP, Congress or other parties and decided to fight the elections on its own. I took special care that in ticket distribution our party has candidates from all sections. Our candidates belong to all castes and faiths, including Muslims. But for other parties, caste and community are the primary consideration in the allotment of tickets,” she said.

Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati during a rally in Saharanpur on Sunday. (PTI)

The BSP has fielded Majid Ali from Saharanpur and Shripal Rana, a Thakur, from Kairana.

Reaching out to the Thakur community, which recently held a mahapanchayat in Saharanpur over “nearly negligible” presence of their community leaders in the list of BJP candidates, Mayawati said, “In Kairana,we have given ticket to Shripal Rana who is an ex-serviceman. The BJP did not give tickets to any Thakur from here. I hope the community will also support the party’s Muslim candidate from Saharanpur.”

A majority of government projects which used to be completed by public sector undertakings (PSUs) before 2014 are now being handed over to private companies, she alleged, adding that the government is now benefitting capitalists by handing them big projects.

Currently, the condition of Muslims and other religious minorities is pathetic while most government jobs reserved for Dalits and other sections are lying vacant all over the country, she further said.

Later, addressing a rally in Muzaffarnagar, the BSP chief said there was no riot in the district when her party was in power for four terms. The bond between the Muslims and the Jat community was breached during the Samajwadi Party government in 2013 (Muzaffarnagar riots), she claimed.

“We will try to fulfil our promise of carving out a separate state of western UP if the BSP is voted to power and we will also check the exploitation of Muslims in the guise of religion,” she said.

From the Muzaffarnagar seat, BSP candidate Dara Singh Prajapati is pitted against two-time BJP MP and minister Sanjeev Baliyan and SP’s Harendra Malik, a former Rajya Sabha MP.

The voting in Saharanpur, Kairana and Muzaffarnagar will be held in the first phase on April 19.