As Mayawati Takes ‘Anti-Poor’ Jibe At INDIA Bloc, United Oppn Claims She’s ‘In Talks With BJP’

New Delhi: On a day when former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati lashed out at the INDIA bloc calling it “anti-poor”, NCP veteran Sharad Pawar claimed that she was in talks with the BJP. Addressing a press conference a day ahead of the Opposition alliance’s third meeting in Mumbai, Pawar said, “It is not known on whose side she (Mayawati) is. Earlier, she has had dialogue with BJP.”

Earlier in the day, the BSP supremo took to X, formerly Twitter, and berated both the INDIA and NDA, calling them “anti-poor”, “communal”, “casteist and pro-rich”.

“NDA and India alliance are mostly parties with anti-poor casteist, communal, pro-Dhanna Seth and capitalist policies against whose policies BSP is continuously struggling and that is why the question of contesting elections in alliance with them does not arise,” Mayawati posted on X. 

“BSP, like in 2007, will single-handedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and four state assembly general elections by uniting crores of neglected society on the basis of mutual brotherhood rather than the manipulation of the opponents. Media should not spread misconceptions again and again,” she added. 

Echoing Pawar’s opinions, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi said he, too, thinks Mayawati is with the saffron party. “It seems that ‘Behenji’ (Mayawati) is with the BJP. It would be good if she joins (the INDIA alliance), but I doubt that,” PTI quoted Azmi as saying.

VIDEO | “It seems that ‘Behenji’ (Mayawati) is with the BJP. It would be good if she joins (the INDIA alliance), but I doubt that,” says Samajwadi Party leader @abuasimazmi.#INDIAAlliance pic.twitter.com/uimd8wLHhB

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 30, 2023

Speaking at the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) presser on Wednesday, Pawar exuded confidence that the Opposition bloc will act as a formidable alternative to bring about a change of guard at the Centre.

Taking a dig at Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and his nephew Ajit Pawar over the recent split in NCP, Sharad Pawar said, “People will teach those who have left a lesson.”

He, however, said there hasn’t yet been any discussion on seat-sharing within the INDIA alliance.

Notably, the members of the MVA, including Congress state chief Nana Patole, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction were addressing the press conference.

Tearing into the BJP-led government at the Centre, Uddhav Thackeray said the Opposition parties have stitched up an alliance to take on the “autocratic” saffron party in next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

“The British rulers were also working on development of the country. But the nation wants development as well as freedom from autocracy,” Uddhav Thackeray said.