I am not his Bua: Mayawati slams Bhim Army chief, accuses BJP of using Vajpayee's death for political gains

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government for not fulfilling its promises and further hiding those behind their diversionary tactics all over India.

"BJP Governments in states and in the Centre are trying to hide their failures by diversionary tactics. They have not fulfilled their election promises," Mayawati was quoted as saying by ANI.

Coming down heavily on the Central government, the BSP chief further accused them of using the demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for their political gains. Mayawati was addressing a press conference in Delhi.

Stressing on the issue of joining the United Opposition to take on the ruling BJP ahead of the 2019 elections, the former chief minister said, "We will agree to alliance anywhere and in any election only when we get a respectable share of seats, otherwise BSP will contest alone".

During his address at the conference, the BSP chief also trained his gun on Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, saying that she has no relation with such people though she is concerned about the sufferings of common man and people of backward classes.

"For the past few days, a man who was recently released from jail is trying to call me ‘Bua’. I can never have a relation with these sort of people. My party and I can never be associated with people who were jailed for violence and were freed as part of a strategy against Bahujan Samaj Party," Mayawati said.

"If people would have been following the path shown by Baba Saheb and Kanshiram Ji, then they would have come out in support and taken the BSP movement forward instead of forming a separate outfit," the BSP chief reiterated.

Earlier, Azad, who was recently granted an early release from Jail in connection to Saharanpur violence, has referred Mayawati as her 'Buaji'(Aunt).

Azad's detention came on the heels of the Saharanpur Caste Violence incident, which took place on May 11, 2017, leaving one dead and several others injured. Under the National Security Act (NSA), Azad was scheduled to be imprisoned till November 1 but was later granted an early release by the Uttar Pradesh government.