Maya airdrops at Patna, flying high on UP dreams

Mayawati used the rally, which drew a decent crowd, to launch yet another frontal attack on the Congress, accusing it of reviving “false” cases lodged against her by the previous NDA government.

She said the BJP and Congress were two sides of the same coin. “To suppress me politically, the BJP had framed me in false cases. Now the Congress is conspiring to revive them and threatening to send me to jail. Let them do that and see the consequences,” she declared. She referred to both the Taj Corridor and disproportionate assets case.

Putting up a brave face, Mayawati added that a stint behind bars would only benefit her and hasten the expansion of the BSP’s base across the country. The Chief Minister also raised the issue of “threat” to her life and said the Centre would be responsible if she was assassinated, as it was disregarding her request for SPG cover. She threatened that if she was killed, her supporters would not sit quiet.

According to Mayawati, her opponents too were out to finish her as they were scared of her increasing popularity. Projecting her as different from other Dalit leaders, she claimed she was not a “saleable commodity” and could not be tamed.

Urging the people to follow the Uttar Pradesh example, she called upon the Dalits, backwards and upper castes to unite and fetch more seats for the BSP in the Lok Sabha. Partymen duly raised slogans projecting Mayawati as the next Prime Minister.

She attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as well as Ram Vilas Paswan — both backward leaders of the state. Without taking names, she charged Nitish with dividing the Dalits and backwards and called Paswan an “opportunist”.