Mayawati grooming BSP heir, secretly

Addressing party workers at a national convention organised in Lucknow Mayawati told her supporters that she had already decided about her successor, reports Rajesh Kumar Singh.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday said she fears a conspiracy by the Congress and the BJP to imprison her or get her killed with the assistance of a terrorist group or Naxalite organisation.

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“Just before the Lok Sabha election or the Vidhan Sabha election in five states, the Congress might direct the CBI to chargesheet me in the disproportionate assets (DA) case and lodge me in jail. The rival political parties might get me assassinated with the help of terrorists or Naxalites. In June 1995, the Samajwadi Party leaders had hatched a conspiracy to kill me in the state guest house but could not succeed,” she said.

Addressing party workers at a national convention organised in Lucknow Mayawati told her supporters that she had already decided about her successor. “A person belonging to Dalit community and ‘chamar’ by caste would head the party in case she dies. He is 18 to 20 years younger than me and does not belong to my family. He is a devoted worker of the party and is being trained for the responsibility,” she said.

Calling upon party workers to capture power at the Centre in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Mayawati said, “I am proud to have been born in a Dalit household. Above all I am ‘Bharat ki beti’ (daughter of India). I would like to ask the casteist leaders that if the daughter of a Dalit could become Chief Minister of the biggest state in the country four times, is capable of providing a good administration and working for the uplift of the masses, why can she not become Prime Minister of the country?” she said.