Lucknow: Stunned from a massive defeat, outgoing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday alleged that the Samajwadi Party would take the state backwards by putting her welfare programmes in the cold storage. She blamed the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party of playing communal politics, helping the SP reap the benefits in the elections. She said that 70 per cent of Muslim votes went to the SP as the Congress appeared weak.
"People of UP will get to see the results of our policy in power sector by 2014. Sad that the new government will take the state backward. In spite of non cooperation from the central government, we have worked for the development of people in all sections of the society in UP," she said while talking to the media.
Mayawati said that the Congress and BJP are responsible for SP coming to power in UP. "My government had to work very hard to improve the situation in UP when I came to power in 2007. I am sure that very soon the people of UP will be fed up of misrule by SP and miss the good governance of my government. BSP will try to take out people from the Hindu-Muslim mentality so that next time BSP does not have to suffer."
"At every level I have done historic work. I am sad that the government that is now taking over will put all my development projects on hold and put the state back decades. The Muslim quota issue raised by BJP led to insecurity amongst the Muslim community and that led to the benefit of SP," she added.
The BSP supremo also thanked Dalits of the state, saying it the because of the their vote that the party got 80 seats. "The Dalit vote in UP remained with BSP. I thank the people from Dalit community for supporting us. Had the Dalits not voted for us, we would have not got the results we have now."
"You all know that Congress raised the issue of reservation for backward Muslims for their political gains soon after the Vidhan Sabha elections were declared and this was opposed strongly to by the BJP," Mayawati said.
She alleged that the BJP also tried to attract the upper castes and the OBCs towards them for electoral benefits.
"Due to this, there was a fear in the Muslim community that the BJP may come to power. Finding the Congress weak and thinking that the OBCs and upper castes would vote for the BJP, Muslims voted not for the Congress but the SP," Mayawati claimed.
She said there were apprehensions in the minds of Muslims that the upper castes and OBCs would not vote for the BSP and, hence, they voted for the SP.
Except the Dalits, the Hindu votes-particularly those of upper castes-got divided among many parties and the SP gained from this, she said. "70 per cent of the Muslim votes were transferred to the SP," Mayawati said.
Mayawati indicated that she would work towards reviving her party in the coming days. "Our party will revive its cadre and work on taking the state out of the Hindu-Muslim mindset," she said, adding that the BSP would also woo other communities into the party-fold.
The BSP chief also hit out at the media for keeping the minority sub-quote issue alive by highlighting the issue repeatedly during the polls.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mayawati stepped down as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Wednesday after her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was routed in the assembly elections to make way for the Samajwadi Party (SP).
A day after the SP won an emphatic mandate of 224 seats in the 403-member house, Mayawati drove down in a convoy to Raj Bhavan where she submitted her resignation to Governor BL Joshi. The BSP managed just 80 seats, far lower than the 206 seats it got in the last assembly elections in 2007.
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