BSP exploited dalits and SP made them suffer: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah, on Wednesday, said that the cost of all the bungalows that BSP president Mayaw-ati owns was sufficient to buy an air conditioner for every dalit home in Uttar Pradesh while every home could get a colour television in Uttar Pradesh if the amount of money earned from illegal mining in the Akhilesh regime was added up.

The BJP president said that corruption was the hallmark of the party and the maximum number of scams had taken place in the Mayawati regime.

Mr Shah said that Swami Prasad Maurya had walked out of the BSP at the right time and many more were ready to leave the party. “He is the proverbial last nail in the coffin of the BSP,” Mr Shah said.

He was addressing a rally on Wednesday organised by Loktantrik Bahujan Manch, a forum led by former BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya, who has now joined the BJP.

Former BSP minister Dharam Singh Saini and BSP MLA Ramesh Kushwa-ha joined the BJP at the rally.

Mr Shah said that while BSP exploited dalits, the Samajwadi Party made them suffer atrocities.

“It is only under the BJP that dalits and OBC will get full protection and development because we believe in ‘sabka saath, sab ka vikas’,” he said.

The BJP president termed the rift in the Yadav family as a “Samajwadi Parivar Mahabharata” and also questioned the ruling SP’s claim of development in Uttar Pradesh.

“Yeh chacha-bhatije ki ladai paise ki ladai hai, loot ke maal ki ladai hai,” he pointed out.

Mr Shah said that the Centre had given `1 lakh crore to Uttar Pradesh, but the development was not visible anywhere. UP minister Shivpal Yadav reacted strongly to the allegations and asked Mr Shah to either prove the same or tender an apology.

The BJP president added that the chief minister removed Gayatri Prajapati because of corruption but is now preparing to take him back. “What happened to the corruption issue ” he asked.

He also slammed the Congress for its failure to improve the plight of farmers in its 65-year rule. Taking a jibe at Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader said he is talking about corruption and development, but he should not forget that the Congress is itself a corrupt party.

Mr Shah listed the work done by the Modi government and explained that development of Uttar Pradesh would be possible only if the BJP was voted to power in the state.

Meanwhile, Mr Maurya said that Ms Mayawati was a “Daulat ki Devi” and had never ensured the upliftment of dalits and downtrodden sections of society.

Significantly, two days ago, Mr Maurya had asked Ms Mayawati to issue a white paper on corruption in the BSP, failing which he would expose her misdeeds in the rally. However, Ms Mayawati did not respond and neither did Mr Maurya expose his former leader on Wednesday.