Mayawati looks beyond UP

Ready for polls in R'than, MP, Delhi, C'garh

In an apparent bid to increase her bargaining power in the event of a fractured mandate post 2014 Lok Sabha elections, BSP supremo Mayawati has asked her party leaders and workers to work for strengthening the party in states other than Uttar Pradesh.

“We are already very strong in UP, now we need to focus in other states,” Mayawati said while addressing a meeting of the party leaders after reviewing preparations for the forthcoming general elections as well as the polls for some state Assemblies.

She said that the BSP could emerge as a force to reckon with if it fared well at the forthcoming Assembly polls in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi. “We can counter the opposition parties only by making our presence felt in these elections,” she added.

BSP leaders from the poll-bound states were present at the review meeting.

According to the BSP leaders, the party supremo discussed the poll strategy with the leaders as well as the probable candidates.

“Some names for the Assembly polls in the four states were also finalised at the meeting,” the leaders said.

Mayawati said the secular forces were weakening in the BJP-ruled states.

“The weakening of the secular forces is not in the interest of the nation,” she added.

The BSP supremo also lashed out at the Congress-led UPA regime at the centre and accused it of failing at all fronts.

“No section of the society is happy with the present regime,” Mayawati said while asking the party workers to take advantage of the disenchantment and turn it into votes for the party.

She said the BSP could substantially increase its bargaining power it performed well in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

She also sharply condemned the killing of the party's former MLA from Azamgarh Sarvesh Singh.