BSP to contest all seats in Gujarat

The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Kicking off the BSP's campaign in the state, party president Mayawati ruled out any tie-ups with any other political party.

"We have decided to contest the elections on our own as BSP is the only transparent party. With tie-ups, our votes will only get shared with our allies," she said.

She said, while the BJP is wooing the Hindu voters and the Congress the Muslims, the dalits are feeling neglected by both the parties. She hoped the BSP will fill the void.

The party has finalised a list of 19 candidates for parliamentary seats in the state. The candidates for the remaining seven seats will be finalised soon, Mayawati said.

Of the 19 candidates nominated in the state, seven belong to other backward castes (OBCs), six belong to scheduled caste (SC), four are Adivasis and three are Muslims.

In the 1999 elections, the BSP had contested from four seats in Gujarat, but it did not win any seat. It secured only 0.07 per cent of votes polled.

Lambasting the Congress, Mayawati said: "The Congress promises to solve the problem of unemployment, but in the 45 years it was in power it failed to do anything for the dalits".

She promised to fix a reservation quota (for Dalits and backward castes) within a year if her party came to power.

Not sparing the BJP, Mayawati said: "The BJP is a step ahead of the Congress. After coming to power, it tried to change the Constitution, which was opposed by the BSP. However, with its privatisation policy, the BJP aims to do away with reservations".

"The BJP is trying to malign the image of the BSP by alleging that Mayawati in involved in the Taj controversy," she added.