Mayawati puts Cong on notice

“The party is following the footsteps of the BJP even though we have extended outside support to the UPA coalition,” she said on her first visit to Madhya Pradesh becoming chief minister for the fourth time. She focused her criticism mostly on the Congress while sparing the ruling party in Madhya Pradesh.

Claiming that her parents and relatives were being targeted, she threatened the Congress to pay in the same coin when her party forms a Government at the Centre.

She reiterated her demand for SPG cover as “worried by her growing popularity” all political parties were out to finish her. “The Congress party will be held responsible if I am killed,” she said, urging her supporters not to pardon the party and take revenge.

Drawing a parallel between her and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, she said the Congress had tried every dirty trick to ensure that he was not elected to the Constituent Assembly. “In the first general elections in 1951 the party succeeded in defeating Dr Ambedkar. Following the defeat, he had asked his followers not to join the Congress,” she said.

Without naming Rahul Gandhi, she took a dig at him saying “these people can go to the extent of dining and living with Dalits. Beware of them”.

In keeping with the “social harmony” theme of the rally, she urged upper castes not to fall for the propaganda that the BSP was against them. She said the UP formula could be replicated only if all castes joined the party’s movement.

Favouring reservation for the economically backward sections of the upper castes, she said her party would amend the Constitution for the purpose.

She said she had written repeatedly to the Centre seeking extension of reservation benefits to Dalits who convert to Christianity and Islam.

“This reservation should be in addition to the existing reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” she said.

Terming the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme a failure, she said her party would scrap the Act and replace it with a new legislation that will fulfil the promise of 365-day employment for the poor.