Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Monday alleged that certain Congress leaders were plotting to kill her. She also threatened to withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA government if her demands for a Rs 80,000-crore economic package for the state and SPG cover for herself are not met by the Centre.
The BSP supremo set a deadline of January 15, which is also her birthday, for the demands to be met. If they aren’t, a meeting of BSP MLAs and MPs will decide on the next course of action, she said. “Currently, everyone is busy with the preparations for my birthday celebrations. But we will soon have to take a decision,” she said.
The BSP has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha. It supports the government from outside. Justifying her demand for the elite SPG cover, only reserved for prime ministers and ex-PMs under the law, Mayawati said her life was under threat. “Some Uttar Pradesh dons such as Ateeq Ahmed, a Samajwadi Party MP, have been given shelter by certain Congress leaders in Delhi to thwart his arrest in the murder case of BSP MLA Raju Pal,” she alleged. However, she refused to name any Congress leader.
Mayawati said the Congress, as a party, was getting “bad to worse” — as reflected in the Gujarat and Himachal assembly poll results. “The Congress is in a very bad shape due to its own follies. The party leaders are blaming the BSP for its electoral woes to hide their own failures,” she said. The chief minister said the UPA government was no different from the NDA regime as both wanted to finish her off politically.
{{/usCountry}}Mayawati said the Congress, as a party, was getting “bad to worse” — as reflected in the Gujarat and Himachal assembly poll results. “The Congress is in a very bad shape due to its own follies. The party leaders are blaming the BSP for its electoral woes to hide their own failures,” she said. The chief minister said the UPA government was no different from the NDA regime as both wanted to finish her off politically.
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