Gwalior: Taking a dig at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday alleged that the ‘social engineering’ formula was a “blatant copy” of the policy the Congress has been following.

Mr. Paswan said the BSP has “lost its soul” and it no longer was a party that had any interest in the welfare of Dalits.

“Her ideology has taken a u-turn. The soul of the BSP is out of its body. A weak body does not matter. There is nothing new in her Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim formula which is the old slogan of the Congress,” Mr. Paswan told PTI.

He said Ms. Mayawati’s social engineering will not fetch her results in the future.

“This (social engineering) will not go on for long. This might help her win one or two elections. But it will fizzle out and lose its relevance,” said Mmr. Paswan, who is also Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel.

Asked about his relationship with Ms.Mayawati and her party, he said: “Chhattis ka ankada hai (we have never been friends).”

On Ms. Mayawati’s ambition to become Prime Minister, he said every politician aspires for the top post, but it “will not come true for everyone”.

Mr. Paswan said there were no problems in his party’s alliance with the Congress.

“We have no problems with the Congress. But the UPA has other parties like the RJD with whom we do not share the same rapport,” he added. He also said the LJP would keep equidistance with both the RJD and the .

On the LJP’s strategy for the coming elections, he said pre-poll alliances would be made on a state-to-state basis. Mr. Paswan expressed his support for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.

“I support women’s reservation. It should be there. If not given, they might revolt one day as they constitute 50 per cent of the electorate,” he added.

Asked about reservation in private sector, he said his party has been vociferously demanding it because recruitment in government jobs was very low. PTI

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