Mayawati takes on BJP, Congress in a first joint rally

Deoband (Uttar Pradesh):BSP leader and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday urged people to defeat the BJP as well as the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, saying both had betrayed the electorate.

Addressing the first joint BSP-SP-RLD rally in the state, Mayawati also said that removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi alone would not do and that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also needed to be shown the door.

"Gathbandhan is winning and the BJP is going, provided they don't tamper with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs)," Mayawati said, adding that the voters would end the "drama of chowkidari".

Modi, the BSP leader said, had not fulfilled even one fourth of the promises he made before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that brought him to power.

The Prime Minister had also failed to protect the borders, she added, citing increasing instances of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir in particular.

Mayawati did not spare the Congress either, calling its recently released election manifesto as 'hawa-hawai'.

The BSP leader said that her party never issued election manifestos as she believed in talking less and delivering more.

With a large number of people in the rally being Muslims, she asked the minorities to vote en bloc for the BSP-SP-RLD alliance after accusing the Congress of trying to split the anti-BJP votes.

"If Muslims want BJP to lose, they have to stand firmly behind Gathbandhan."