Mayawati accuses Congress of not cooperating with her govt

Sitapur (UP), Feb 1: Accusing the Congress-led UPA government of not cooperating with her in the past five years, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today said only her party could empower the "sarv samaj (all classes)".

"In the real sense only BSP government can work towards empowerment of the sarv samaj and it has proved the same to a large extent over the past five years", Mayawati said in an informal chat with reporters here. Mayawati, who arrived here to address an election meeting, said the biggest issue in UP elections is that in the past five years we have performed well, done a lot of work which none of the other governments before us have done since independence.

"The state, however, is a big one as far as its population is concerned, five years is not enough to remove the backwardness of Uttar Pradesh and the central government has also not helped us", she said. There is still the need to work for the development of the state and remove the backwardness, she said adding that the sarv samaj also needed to be uplifted.

The BSP chief who looked happy following the presence of large number of her supporters said that it is for the people to decide whether she would become the chief minister for the fifth time. "Ask the people... you can see the crowd", she said when asked whether she was confident of returning as the chief minister of the state again.

PTI