Maya fires at BJP, spares big guns

When she was reminded it was she who had blamed the entire BJP leadership for her overthrow because she claimed to have refused to cooperate on the Ayodhya case, Mayawati denied the statements. ‘‘I did not blame them. I did not say much at the time because I did not know the full story. I wanted to be clear before I said anything, that’s why, I am talking to you now,’’ she said with an impassive face.

She then went on to name the people she accused of throwing her out: NDA convenor George Fernandes and BJP leaders Pramod Mahajan, Rajnath Singh and Lalji Tandon. She squarely blamed Tandon as the man who lusted for power—‘‘Lalchi (greedy) Tandon was desperate to become Deputy CM, but that did not happen. So, they conspired to bring my government down.’’

She gave a clean chit to both Vajpayee and Advani saying, ‘‘Advani wanted this government to run its full term. I even called up Advaniji to tell him there was no breach of trust from our part. Even Vajpayeeji supported our government but the PM had to succumb to pressures from his group,’’ she said.

Soon, she began attacking the Mulayam Singh government and alleged that ever since he took over, ‘‘goondas and the mafia’’ had taken over, and it was the time of ‘‘jungle raj.’’ “As soon as Mulayam took over, there is already a curfew in Rae Bareilly because of a murder and it is still on,’’ she said

Mayawati was dismissive about allegations that she was cosying up to the central BJP leadership because of the controversial Taj Corridor scandal, which hangs over head like a sword. ‘‘I am not sacred of the CBI,’’ she said.

She also scotched all speculation of a possible BSP-Congress tie-up when she categorically underlined the fact the BSP will capture power on its own strength. ‘‘There will be no tie-up with any party in elections in the four states and at the Centre,’’ she said.

However, she gave a long-winded explanation on whether she would join hands with the BJP again now that she had found out who the real culprits were. She continued to insist the Advani group was kept in the dark about the toppling game and blamed the cabal in the Vajpayee group again for spreading rumours like a BSP-Congress tie-up.

She also admitted the cabal was now threatening to eliminate her if she tried to expose their conspiracy or made any attempt to join hands with any secular party.