BSP chief Mayawati emerged from her 48-hour gag order on Thursday morning all guns blazing, targeting the BJP and election commission. The attack coincided with voting for second phase polls in 8 Lok Sabha constituencies of a polarised region of western UP.
Her attack was primarily focused on Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who still has one more day to go for his 72-hour poll campaign ban to end.
The two prominent Uttar Pradesh leaders had been put on mute by the Election Commission this week on charges that they had crossed the line during the election campaign.
But Mayawati complained that Yogi Adityanath had walked around the ban but yet, the poll panel had been soft on him.
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Yogi Adityanath has been on a temple run during this period that also included a meeting with triple talaq victim, lunch at a Dalit house in Ayodhya and visits to a school for visually impaired girl students.
“Despite the ban, Chief Minister Yogi is visiting various cities and temples and indulging in antics by having lunch at a Dalit person’s house. Yet, the Election Commission is kind on him,” Mayawati tweeted.
“If such biased approach continued, then conduct of free and fair polls would be practically impossible. Who will answer the restlessness of the people on these issues? The BJP leadership continues to as headstrong as it was before,” she said.
Defending Adityanath, his advisor Mrityunjay Kumar hit back at Mayawati asking how can visiting temples and accepting someone’s invitation be called a poll code violation.
“Mayawatiji reads written speeches so she must also read a copy of the order of the election commission,” Kumar said.
However, Mayawati continued to target the BJP saying it appeared to be as nervous during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as the Congress was during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. “Reason for this is their narrow approach towards backwards, Dalits, Muslims, farmers and labourers,” she said.
Appealing to people to vote in large numbers in the elections she said, she continued to target the EC.
“The Supreme Court’s observation that the poll watch dog isn’t as helpless as it appeared to be is important. However, it still remains to be seen that the EC is actually acting impartially and isn’t bent towards the centre,” she added. Maya also had a word of advice for the opposition leaders. “Despite provocations the opposition must take care to exercise caution else that provides the BJP a handle to divert attention and mislead the masses,” she said.