Mayawati lashes out at opponents; cosies up to upper caste

Lucknow, Dec 28 (UNI) Hitting hard at the Congress, BJP and other political rivals for terming BSP ''anti-upper caste'', party supremo Mayawati today said this was an effort by these outfits to prevent these communities from supporting her.

''Never did Kanshi Ram or I utter anything against the upper caste. But, opponent political parties coined a slogan 'Tilak Tarazu aur Talwar, inko maaro joote chaar' to defame the BSP,'' she added.

Addressing a Vaishya Samaj conference here, Ms Mayawati said it was the dream of late Kanshi Ram to include the upper caste after the dalits and backwards return to the main fold of society.

''It is high time for the upper caste to support us to get rid of the corrupt and bad governance of the Samajwadi Party, which came to power with the support of BJP, Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal,'' she asserted.

Ms Mayawati claimed the bureaucracy had also ditched the SP government and started supporting the BSP indirectly.

''While the bureaucracy treated the Congress and BJP agitations with tough hands, it let loose the BSP agitation on Novemaber 30 when party cadres burnt Mulayam Singh Yadav in effigy,'' she said.

''The change in bureaucracy's stand indicates to the BSP coming to power after the 2007 UP assembly poll.'' ''Now the upper caste, including the Vaishya community, should not wait and come out openly in support of the BSP,'' the party supremo observed.

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