The Hindu : Centre has thrust polls on people: Mayawati

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 16, 2004

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Centre has thrust polls on people: Mayawati

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, MARCH 15. The Bahujan Samaj Party president, Mayawati, today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA Government at the Centre of thrusting parliamentary elections on the people by advancing the polls after the party's victory in three States in the recent Assembly elections.

Ms. Mayawati was addressing a party rally here to mark the birthday of the BSP supremo, Kanshi Ram. Due to the sudden announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, she said, all her plans to rejuvenate the party had gone awry "and now there is no other option but to go for the polls with available resources and whatever preparations can be made in the limited time at one's disposal."

The BSP could not come up to expectations in the recent Assembly elections as the Congress was excessively weak and there was a direct fight with the BJP. The BSP could not increase its tally of seats in the State Assembly due to its failure to keep the party united, she said.

Without committing herself on the possibility of a tie-up with the Congress or any other party, Ms. Mayawati said the BSP had considerable following among Madhya Pradesh farmers living near the Uttar Pradesh border.

In Uttar Pradesh, she said, her party had a huge support base among the farmers and the same trend was also emerging in this State.

Ms. Mayawati said that Mr. Ram was rather unhappy with the BSP's performance in the recent Assembly elections.

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