Lucknow: Continuing her war of words with Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday said that in the recent Delhi Assembly elections, the Congress acted like the "B team" for BJP which contributed to the BJP's victory in the national capital.
On Thursday, the Congress leader had claimed that the BJP would not have won the 2024 Lok Sabha polls if Mayawati had not stayed away from the INDIA bloc.
In a post on X today, Mayawati wrote, "It is a common discussion that this time Congress contested the Delhi Assembly elections as BJP's B team, due to which BJP has come to power here. Otherwise, Congress' condition would not have been so bad in this election that this party could not even save the deposit of most of its candidates."
Taking a direct swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the BSP chief advised him to engage in introspection rather than pointing fingers at others. "It would be better if the supreme leader of this party, Mr Rahul Gandhi, looks into himself before pointing fingers at others and especially at the BSP chief in any matter. This is my advice to him," she said.
The BSP supremo also cautioned the newly formed BJP government in Delhi to fulfil its electoral promises, warning that failure to do so could lead to a fate similar to that of Congress.
"The new BJP government formed in Delhi has the challenge of fulfilling all the promises made during the elections, especially those related to public welfare and development, on time, otherwise, the condition of this party may also become as bad as that of Congress in the future," Mayawati's post on X read.
Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi in a conversation with students in Raebareli, said "Why doesn't Mayawati fight elections properly?". "We wanted Behenji to fight elections along with us against the BJP."
"However, for some reason, Mayawati Ji isn't contesting, which disappoints us greatly. Because if all three parties come together, the BJP would never win," the Congress MP said adding the doors of the INDIA Alliance are always open for her.
Mayawati, however, hit back at the Congress' "double standards". In a post in Hindi on X on Thursday the BSP chief said," In the states where Congress is strong or where it has governments, there is animosity and casteist attitude towards BSP and its followers, but in a state like UP where Congress is weak, there is deceptive talk of alliance with BSP, if this is not the double standard of that party then what is it?.
She said that whenever BSP contested elections in UP and other states in alliance with "casteist parties" like Congress, their base vote has been transferred to them but those parties have not been able to transfer their base vote to BSP. In such a situation, BSP has always had to face losses.
Notably, Congress and the Samajwadi Party had contested the 2024 parliamentary elections together as part of the INDIA alliance, while the BSP fought the elections independently. (ANI)