NEW DELHI, 8 January 2008 — Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) boss and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati signaled yesterday that her party’s “friendship” with the Congress party is as good as over. She threatened to withdraw support to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) anytime after Jan. 15 if she is not given elite security cover.
Mayawati also accused certain Congress leaders of trying to “eliminate” her. She has blamed Congress for “patronizing” expelled BSP legislator Atiq Ahmed. When asked to elaborate on this at a news conference, Mayawati said: “I am the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Our intelligence department is not that weak.”
Mayawati refused to name the Congress leaders who she said were conspiring to kill her. “The details will be divulged at an appropriate time,” she said.
Despite intelligence agencies saying that certain forces were trying to assassinate her, the federal government had not sanctioned elite security cover for her as demanded by her government, Mayawati said. “I see a big conspiracy of the Congress party in this. If anything untoward were to happen to me, Congress will be solely responsible,” she said.
Asked whether she held Congress President Sonia Gandhi responsible for sanctioning the attack by party leaders on her, Mayawati said she did not know. Mayawati also saw Congress hand in the Central Bureau of Investigation delaying a decision on a case of corruption against her. An anti-corruption court recently cleared her of corruption, ruling that her personal wealth was the result of gifts received from her supporters.
At the news conference, she accused Congress of following the policy of its predecessor, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government, of “harassing and trying to get her involved in fake cases.
Mayawati said she would have to consider withdrawing support to the UPA if this continued. She would convene a party meeting after Jan. 15 “to take a final decision” on this. Mayawati’s birthday is on Jan. 15.
Her party has 19 legislators in the Lok Sabha and seven in the Rajya Sabha.
In the next Lok Sabha election, Congress would face a debacle worse than that faced by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mayawati said. “Alarm bells for Congress have already rung in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh,” she added.
Dismissing Mayawati’s charges, Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who is in charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh, said the government and Congress can never be part of such conspiracies. “I don’t understand why she has leveled such charges. She has the police force of the whole of Uttar Pradesh and commandos under her command,” he said.
