Author: Suchandana Gupta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: February 11, 2008
Introduction: UP CM Says She Will Withdraw
Support If Centre Reopens Taj Corridor Case
Within a month of issuing an ultimatum to
the UPA government of withdrawing the BSP's support to the Centre, UP chief
minister Mayawati on Sunday repeated her threat-this time on grounds that
Delhi is planning to reopen the Taj Corridor case against her. She had earlier
said the BSP could withdraw support to the UPA anytime after January 15, which
was her birthday.
Mayawati, who was in Bhopal to address a rally,
launched a scathing attack on the Congress. "I supported the Congress
government at the Centre. I also backed its presidential and vice-presidential
nominees. But the Congress is trying to frame me in the fraudulent Taj Corridor
case,'' she said. She alleged the Congress was harassing her aged parents
by launching personal attacks against them. "Personal attacks aren't
right. The Congress should bear in mind that there could be a turn in its
fortunes as well and that it could also be subjected to similar attacks,''
she said. Mayawati said the Taj case was being reopened to pressure her. "I
am not purchasable. I'll go to jail, but won't yield." She ridiculed
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's recent stay with a Dalit family in UP. "To
halt the BSP's juggernaut, the Congress leaders are ready to eat and sleep
in Dalit houses, but the people should see through their charade and vote
them out,'' she thundered.
Mayawati also claimed that her political rivals
are posing a threat to her and if she's killed, "the Congress would be
responsible''. She called on her supporters to avenge her death if she is
bumped off. "An attempt on my life was made on June 2, 2007. Political
forces worried about the BSP's widening base and the prospect of my becoming
the PM might kill me,'' she said. She repeated her charge against the Centre
that it still hasn't provided her SPG cover. Mayawati sought the people's
support for her prime ministerial ambitions. "Elect me as the next PM
for the benefit of all sections of society,'' she said. "If I am elected
PM, I will amend the constitution to provide reservation to Brahmins living
below poverty line,'' she said. She said that if the BSP came to power at
the Centre, it would scrap the Congress's National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme, which provides 100-day employment to rural poor, and replace it with
one that provides work for all 365 days. The BSP deployed it own workers for
security at the rally. Calling themselves the Bahujan Voluntary Force, hundreds
of workers in white shirts, blue trousers, caps and metal badges, brandishing
lathis, manned the rally.