PHOTO: PTI

Bahujan Samaj Party activists converge near the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow on Wednesday, as the vehicle carrying the urn containing the ashes of Kanshi Ram arrives.

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati launched the campaign for next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls at the ceremony of interring the urn containing the ashes of BSP founder Kanshi Ram here on Wednesday.

In an emotional appeal, the former Chief Minister exhorted cadres to fulfil her mentor's last wish of the BSP getting absolute majority.

"BSP wave"

Ms. Mayawati said the "corrupt" Samajwadi Party Government was on its last legs and people were yearning for a change. Claiming that a "BSP wave" was sweeping the State, she said the "janata" wanted to elect the party with absolute majority.

Cautioning the cadres to remain vigilant against "rumour-mongering" by other parties, Ms. Mayawati ruled out any pre or post-poll alliance. The BSP would contest all 403 seats in the State. The same arrangement would hold good in Uttaranchal and Punjab, where also polls are due next year.

Ms. Mayawati said Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's Kanya Vidya Dhan and unemployment dole schemes were tantamount to bribing the people. If the BSP came to power, "misuse" of government money on publicity for these schemes would be probed.

Ms. Mayawati criticised the Congress-led UPA Government for failing to declare a day's national mourning for Kanshi Ram. Mr. Yadav should have declared a three-day State mourning. She said Kanshi Ram's brothers and relatives did not provide moral support during his illness but they "played into the Samajwadi Party's hands".

Ms. Mayawati said Mr. Yadav forgot that it was Kanshi Ram who had helped him form a government and become Chief Minister in 1993.

Best treatment

She described in detail the various phases of Kanshi Ram's illness, and said the party spent Rs. 1 crore on giving him the best treatment. Defending the practice of taking money from ticket aspirants, she said it was used for poll expenses, including hiring helicopters for campaigning.

Earlier, the BSP chief reached the Bahujan Prerna Kendra with the urn atop a motorised "rath" around 4.30 p.m., after covering six km from the Ambedkar Maidan in four hours.

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