Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati’s sudden launch of a scathing attack on the BJP, has not enthused the Opposition parties that will meet in Patna on Friday to chalk out a strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
“Her outburst against the BJP at a party meeting cannot be taken seriously because she is known to blow-hot-blow-cold at regular intervals where the BJP is concerned,” said a Samajwadi Party (SP) leader.
He said that the BSP’s attack on BJP could be a fallout of the recent 216 Noida flat scam that was exposed by the media.
At a party meeting on Wednesday, Mayawati had said that the BJP’s politics focused on issues like ‘love jihad’, ‘land jihad’, razing of ‘mazars’, religious conversions, inquiry of ‘madrasas’, ‘hijab’, bulldozers and hate speeches which were meant to incite communal frenzy.
“The government’s discriminatory behaviour against Dalits and a specific community is not justifiable,” she had said.
K.C. Tyagi, special advisor and chief spokesperson of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal (U) also made it clear that as of now only SP and RLD had been invited for the opposition meet from Uttar Pradesh.
“The Congress is a big party and has several alliances with many parties in different states, including us and is certainly part of the Patna meet. All the same, the decision to align with the BSP and make it a part of the united opposition strategy would be a joint decision, not that of any one party alone,” Tyagi told reporters.
“The statements of BSP leaders in the recent past have never been for opposition unity and in fact, from time to time, the BSP leadership had been targeting the Congress and the SP. They did not show any interest in the June 23 meeting and hence they have not been invited.”
Only those parties or leaders who have shown the resolve to take on the BJP, are to be part of the meeting, he added.
“Today she may have been soft on the Congress but as of now, it is highly unlikely that she would be part of the opposition unity move. As for the Congress, it is a big party which has alliance or understanding with several parties, including us, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and the Left. So, any possible pact with the BSP will be a common one,” Tyagi said.
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