Terming the Congress 'kisan Mahapanchayat' addressed by Rahul Gandhi in Aligarh on Saturday as a "total flop",BSP claimed a majority of the people present at the venue consisted of nomination-seekers for coming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. A BSP spokesman said almost 80 per cent of the crowd in the mahapanchayat was ticket-seekers while farmers' presence was only twenty per cent. "The crowd had been lured with a promise of tickets in the coming elections and the fact is that farmers have been betrayed in the name of rally",he charged. The spokesman also questioned the claims that there was a presence of about one lakh farmers in the rally saying it was not possible as only seven thousand chairs had been arranged at the venue. Charging the Congress "yuvraj" with misguiding farmers by issuing "illogial statements",he said that after promising a lot for them during the three-day farmers 'sandesh yatra' he went on to say that the land acquisition act cannot be made in five days. The spokesman also questioned Gandhi's view that a separate land acquisition policy for housing and development and said the BSP government in the state has already made a "progressive and farmer-friendly policy covering both these areas and it would have been better had he praised the UP govenrment for it".
