Mayawati blames SP, Cong. for Ayodhya issue

LUCKNOW, DEC. 16. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) today held the Congress and the Samajwadi Party equally responsible for the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya and said it abstained from voting on the censure motion on the issue in Lok Sabha on Thursday as it did not want to side with those who had ``created'' the Ayodhya problem.

Addressing a press conference here, the BSP national vice- president, Ms. Mayawati, said while the Congress was the ``real culprit'' for creating the Ayodhya imbroglio by ordering unlocking of the disputed structure and getting the ``shilanyas'' performed, it was the Samajwadi Party's rhetorics that united the Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and helped the BJP gain political strength.

She said it had been proved beyond doubt in the Lok Sabha that the Samajwadi Party leader, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, had a ``tacit understanding'' with the BJP and was also in a mood to abstain from voting but was forced to vote against the Government under pressure from its Muslim MPs, she alleged. On the reservation bill for women, which is scheduled to be taken up for discussion in Parliament next week, Ms. Mayawati said her party would oppose the bill in its present form and would vote against it ``unless separate reservation is granted to women belonging to backward castes and religious minorities''.

Ms. Mayawati said raking up of the Ram temple issue by BJP and its supporting organisations was indicative of early elections in Uttar Pradesh. ``The BJP has realised that it cannot go to the polls on the basis of the performance of its government and was hence reviving the temple issue to exploit the religious sentiments of the people.'' Ms. Mayawati said her party would go it alone in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and added that there would be no post-poll alliance with the BJP for government formation in the State.

- PTI

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