Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday announced a whopping Rs 7,000-crore in financial schemes dedicated to late Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshiram and asked party workers to be ready for mid-term polls.
Addressing a massive Savdhaan Raho, Aage Badho rally at Ramabai Ambedkar grounds near Lucknow, she cautioned the people against being induced by the 'media, mafia or money' which political rivals Samajwadi Party, Congress and the Bharatiya Janta Party could use against the BSP.
As the BSP observed Kanshiram's second death anniversary, Mayawati launched projects worth Rs 7,000 crore, including a 500-bed multi-specialty hospital for free treatment and a housing colony aimed at the poor.
Mayawati asked her party workers to be prepared for the Lok Sabha elections, as "the ongoing UPA-Left stand-off and the tussle over the Ram Sethu issue could lead to mid-term polls," she said.
She also accused the media of indulging in 'character assassination' by reporting that she bought bungalows from money collected from workers and spent huge sums on renovating her official residence. Mayawati also took pot-shots at the SP, claiming that its mass base was shrinking and its leaders were making 'indecent and objectionable comments' about the BSP.
"SP leaders are trying to create confusion among the upper castes by saying the BSP is not their well-wisher. If so, why did the Congress enter into a pact with us in 1996 why did the BJP form a coalition government with us twice," Mayawati said.
She also apprehended a 'conspiracy' by detractors to eliminate her and grab power given her growing popularity and referred to the 1995 incident when SP supporters allegedly attacked her after the BSP withdrew support to the Mulayam Singh Yadav government.
The BSP supremo expressed her sympathies with the dismissed police and Provincial Armed Constabulary recruits and hinted at restoring student union polls during her two-hour long speech.
She said the government was not opposed to student union polls and the ban was imposed 'in the interest of students. "We are framing strict rules and regulations to check entry of criminal elements in the unions".
Seeking to mollify the dismissed police and PAC recruits inducted during the previous SP regime, she said their candidature would be considered sympathetically in future recruitment drives.
On the demand for smaller states, the chief minister said, "We are ready to cave out three states - Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh and Poorvanchal from UP if the Centre agrees to it".
Passing the onus of development to the Centre, Mayawati said she had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a number of times seeking an economic package for the state but had received no response.
