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'SP propaganda failed'

By Our Special Correspondent

LUCKNOW MARCH 2. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, today chided her Samajwadi Party detractors who had tried to derive "political benefits'' out of the action taken by the Government against the independent MLA, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias "Raja Bhaiya'', in the Assembly byelections in Gauriganj and Hydergarh constituencies. They tried to turn the Thakurs against her, raising a hue and cry that the community was being victimised. Their propaganda had, however, fallen flat as indicated by the victory of a Thakur belonging to her party in Gauriganj, she said.

Talking to presspersons here, Ms. Mayawati said the Government was determined to maintain law and order and the action taken against the MLA was only for his `criminal activities'. However, the SP leaders, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, had gone on a propaganda campaign that her action was motivated by political vendetta.

As for the Congress leaders levelling similar allegations against her, she said she could say nothing about those who had the habit of saying one thing to her in private and quite another in public. The Congress Legislature Party leader, Pramod Tiwari, and the party MP, Ratna Singh, both had come to her to complain against the activities of Raja Bhaiya. They were now blaming her for `unleashing terror against the Thakurs'. However, the defeat of the Congress nominee in Gauriganj was enough to show what political base the party president, Sonia Gandhi, was having in her Lok Sabha constituency, she said.

She warned the Thakur community and its organisations to guard themselves against the stratagem of the SP whose only objective was to `exploit them politically'. They had adopted the same strategy to alienate the Muslims from her party during the Bahedi Assembly byelection earlier but failed.

Referring to Hydergarh, where the Samajwadi Party won, Ms. Mayawati said that was because of some minor miscalculation. She had proposed to contest the Gauriganj seat herself and leave the Hydergarh seat for the BJP. The State BJP leaders, however, disagreed saying that this would cause resentment among its cadres as the BJP nominee had lost by a narrow margin last time in Gauriganj. Had the coalition partners come to an understanding as proposed by her, they would have bagged both seats.

She said the combined votes polled by the BSP and the BJP in Hydergarh were much more than that of the SP winner who had in fact polled nearly 5,000 votes less than what he had polled in the elections last year.

Asked if the BJP and the BSP would contest the next elections together, she said when the coalition was concluded they had agreed to contest jointly only the next Lok Sabha elections. However, if a new strategy was needed the matter could be discussed with the national BJP leaders and decisions taken accordingly.

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