Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday called upon the political parties to rise above party politics to support ‘One Nation, One Election Bill’ likely to be introduced in the Parliament by the NDA government in the ongoing winter session.
Addressing a press conference, the BSP chief said, being the party of the poor and the oppressed, the BSP welcomes the related bills brought by the BJP government regarding ‘One Nation, One Election’. Unlike the BJP and Congress, the BSP does not take donation from the rich. If the election is held together, the campaign expenditure burden will be less and it will also check enforcement of the model code of conduct on regular intervals and pave way for development, she said.
BSP chief attacked the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, saying they should not speak on reservations as they colluded in opposing the legislation giving quota in promotions to Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) when the Congress-led UPA was in power.
Mayawati demanded that reservations for SC, ST and OBC be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to prevent any tampering.
{{/usCountry}}Mayawati demanded that reservations for SC, ST and OBC be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to prevent any tampering.
{{/usCountry}}“During the discussion on the Constitution in Lok Sabha, the ruling side and the opposition, especially the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, to woo Dalit and OBC voters, have said a lot of “baseless” things about reservation issue in which there is “not even an iota of truth,” she told reporters.
The BSP chief also targeted the ruling BJP and said, “The anti-reservation mentality of the BJP is also clearly visible, due to which they are in no mood to get the bill passed.’’ Mayawati said that there was a heated discussion in the Parliament on the ‘glorious journey of 75 Years of the Constitution of India’.
“The Constitution has not failed but the people and parties ruling the country have failed the Constitution of the country with their “narrow thinking and casteist politics”, she said.
Mayawati also said that the “resolutions” being taken by the current BJP government are not going to benefit the people of the country.
She said if the government makes amendments to the Constitution to benefit a party or any particular person or institution, “then our party will strongly oppose it”.