BSP will strive for uplift of all castes: Mayawati

Gulbarga, May 18 (UNI) Reiterating that her party would strive for the uplift of all people, irrespective of castes, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today appealed to the people of Karnataka to vote for BSP.

Addressing an election meeting here, she called upon the people to reject Congress and the BJP as they were trying to allegedly win the election by spending huge money.

''They (Congress and BJP) are spending money like water in the elections. They are paying huge money for each vote,'' she alleged.

She criticised the Congress, which ruled most of the period after independence, of failing to uplift the socio-economic status of the downtrodden.

Exhorting the party workers to make every effort to win the elections, she asked them to strengthen the BSP in the state for Lok Sabha elections next year.

Allaying the apprehension that the BSP belonged to Dalits, she said the party was associated with people of all castes.

Promising that the BSP would strive for the development of backward Hyderabad Karnataka region, Ms Mayawati during her 50-minute speech sharply criticised the policies of Congress and highlighted the various welfare programmes being implemented by her government in Uttar Pradesh.

UNI DP ROY SP RN1803