Mayawati threatens to withdraw support

The confrontation between the Congress and the BSP turned ugly today with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati accusing certain Congress leaders of conspiring to eliminate her.

She also threatened to withdraw support to the UPA at the Centre anytime after January 15.

Mayawati hit back at the Congress as also the party-led coalition at the Centre at a press conference here in the wake of her recent criticism by some Congress leaders on issues including failure to avert the terrorist strike at Rampur.

"I am the Chief Minister of UP. Our intelligence department is not that weak," she snapped back when asked to elaborate on her statement alleging that certain Congress leaders were out to eliminate her and were "patronising" expelled BSP MP Atiq Ahmed whom she dubbed as "mafia".

Declining to specify the names of the Congress leaders, she merely said, "the details will be divulged at an appropriate time".

Accusing the Congress-led coalition of following the erstwhile BJP-led Government's path of "harassing and trying to get her involved in fake cases", she said she would convene a meeting of her party office bearers and legislators after January 15 "to take a final decision" on the issue of support to the Centre.

Noting her party has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and seven in the Rajya Sabha, she alleged the Congress-led government was "deliberately delaying" a decision by the CBI on the disproportionate assests case.