Mayawati`s piece of advice to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on BSP `turncoats`

BSP chief Mayawati`s statement came barely hours after SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav inducted Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar in his party on Sunday.

Lucknow: Even as two senior BSP leaders Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar formally joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) of Akhilesh Yadav at the latter's 'Janadesh Maharally' in Ambedkarnagar district on Sunday, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said that taking BSP "turncoats" into its fold will not help the Samajwadi Party increase its mass base and will only weaken it.

The BSP chief's statement came barely hours after SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav inducted Lalji Verma and Ramachal Rajbhar in his party on Sunday. In a series of Hindi tweets, Mayawati said their inclusion in SP is only going to weaken the SP and disaffect its party workers.

She tweeted, "The SP should know that by taking such selfish party-hoppers, the ticket-seekers, within its fold is only going to make its workers angry, many of whom are in touch with the BSP. These people are going to inflict severe damage to the party from inside during the polls."

Offering a word of advice to her own party workers, Mayawati said they must refrain from getting tickets to the disaffected members from other parties and prefer only their fellow party workers.

In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, Lalji Verma had won from Katehari seat, while Ramachal Rajbhar had won from the Akbarpur Assembly constituency. Before expulsion from the party for "anti-party" activities, Verma was the leader of the BSP legislature party in the state assembly, and Rajbhar was the state BSP chief. 

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, Verma had won from the Katehari seat, while Rajbhar won from the Akbarpur assembly constituency.

Mayawati asks Centre to repeal farm laws, relieve farmers

BSP chief Mayawati also sought to know why the people should believe in BJP's slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas' when the government has failed to win the faith of the protesting farmers.

In a social media message, she tweeted in Hindi, "The BJP says 'sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas'. But, how can people believe this 'jumlaa' (rhetoric) when the country's farmers have been so fiercely protesting against the three farm laws for such a long time and are agitated."

In another tweet, Mayawati said she expects the Centre to repeal the three contentious farm laws and relieve the farmers as a Diwali gift akin to how it reduced the excise duty on petrol and diesel after three years.

(With Agency Inputs)