People At PM Narendra Modi's Roadshow 'Mere Spectators': Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati today said that those seen at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow were "mere spectators" brought in from other states and districts in Uttar Pradesh where voting had already taken place.

Addressing a rally in Rohaniya, 20 km away from Varanasi, she also asserted that the BJP and the SP-Congress combine were fighting for second and third place in the UP polls.

"The BJP is gloating over the massive crowds that had turned up at Modi's roadshow here. However, the people who were cheering the Prime Minister, I have learnt, were tamashbeen (mere spectators) who were brought in from other districts, where voting is already complete, and even from other states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh," Mayawati said.

She said the BJP had deputed the entire Union cabinet and the party's top brass in the Prime Minister's parliamentary constituency. "They have focussed their energies on bringing in crowds from far and wide. But it is the locals who vote in an election anywhere. Our huge rally here is attended by local crowds which proves that it is the BSP which enjoys actual public support and is poised to form the next government in the state," Mayawati said.

Taking a dig at the Prime Minister's visit to Kashi Vishwanath and Kaal Bhairav temples, the BSP supremo said prayers offered at the shrines would be of no avail.

"The very people who had been hired to stand beside the streets, carrying BJP flags and wearing BJP caps, and throw flowers at the PM's cavalcade may end up not voting for the party in the elections," she said.

The BSP supremo also lambasted the Congress for entering into an alliance with the ruling Samajwadi Party "against which there is tremendous public anger".

"The joint road show carried out by Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav shows that both the BJP and the SP-Congress alliance have reconciled to defeat and were now fighting against each other for securing the second position. They are just fighting for the second and third positions," she said.

Mayawati, who has fielded nearly 100 Muslim candidates in the ongoing elections, cautioned the minority community against "wasting" their votes by supporting the SP-Congress alliance.

"The Congress has for long been irrelevant in state politics while the SP is riven by a bitter family feud which may result in different factions working to defeat each other," he said.