Mayawati hints she is contender for PM's post

Visakhapatnam: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday hinted at being a contender for the Prime Minister's post, saying the situation will become clear after the election results.

"As far as my becoming the Prime Minister is concerned, the elections are going on. When the results come, the situation will become clear," she said when asked if she was a contender for the top post.

She was addressing a news conference here along with Pawan Kalyan and leaders of the CPI and CPI-M with which the BSP has allied for the elections to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and Lok Sabha.

On the possibility of the formation of a third front as an alternative to both the BJP and Congress, she said she can comment only after the results were declared.

She claimed that people want a change at the Centre as the Congress ruled for a long period but failed to deliver while the BJP failed to fulfil the promises made in 2014 and tried to divert people's attention from its failures.

"If we get an opportunity to form the government at Centre, we will give good governance on UP pattern. We will work for the welfare of poor in all sections, will solve the problem of unemployment and there will be no discrimination against any state," she said.

"If we form the government at the Centre, we will give special category status to Andhra Pradesh which both the Congress and the BJP failed to give," Mayawati added.

Replying to a question about the BJP, the BSP leader claimed that it was in a bad shape across the country. She claimed that the BJP was sad about the BSP-SP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh as the state had the highest number of Lok Sabha seats.

Pointing out that BSP was the third largest party in the country in terms of votes it polled in 2014 elections, she said her party had votes in every state. "Wherever we have alliances it will hurt BJP," she said.

On the Congress manifesto, Mayawati remarked that its promise of Rs 72,000 for every poor every year was on the lines of BJP's promise to give Rs 15-20 lakh to every poor.

She recalled that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had also made a 20-point programme for removing poverty. "Have they succeeded in removing poverty," she asked.

Mayawati said the BSP formed four governments in Uttar Pradesh and contested many elections but it never released manifestos. "We believe in doing more and talking less."

She exuded confidence that their alliance would come to power in Andhra Pradesh and Pawan Kalyan would become the Chief Minister as people had tried and tested the national and regional parties.

The actor-politician said he visited Uttar Pradesh and was impressed with the work done by Mayawati. He said he wanted to see Mayawati as the Prime Minister.

"If a chaiwala can become the PM and if a chowkidar wants to continue as the PM, we want to see a lonely woman and lonely fighter for a social purpose as the PM. She struggled amidst all chaos and faced tough challenges," said Pawan Kalyan.