BSP will secure absolute majority in UP: Mayawati

Jalandhar, Nov 30 (UNI) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati today said Congressmen were running after her for alliance in UP for the coming assembly elections but her party would go to polls all alone to secure absolute power on its own.

Speaking at the party's rally at Tajpur-Bhagwanpura near here, Ms Mayawati said every party was interested in forging an alliance with BSP but ''our experience had taught us that alliance did not give us any benefit and always left the other partner at a gain.

She said that in 1996, BSP and Congress contested assembly elections together in UP and BSP bagged 67 seats. However, in 2002 assembly elections, BSP contested on its own and had won 100 seats.

She recalled that in 1996, alliance was also forged with Congress on repeated requests from senior Congress leader who was happy after getting mere 126 seats of the total 403 in seat adjustment.

In the 2002 assembly elections in UP, again the Congress prayed for an alliance with her party and conveyed to her that party would be happy with even 50 per cent of the previous figure of 126 seats.

However, in the interests of her own party, she had refused to have an alliance and this benefitted BSP which had bagged 100 seats to form government with support from BJP.

In the next assembly elections, her party would go to the polls alone with target of securing absolute majority on its own, she said.

Party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Satish Misra in his speech refuted the charges of casteistic party levelled by opponents and said that BSP did represent all castes and communities of the country with special attention to needy dalit communities.

BSP Punjab unit president Avtar Singh Karimpuri also spoke at the rally which marked the launching of the party's election campaign for the next assembly elections in Punjab.

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