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Chief Justice of India alleges ‘larger plot’ and pressure tactics after leftist websites break story of alleged sexual harassment

Today, the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi was accused of sexual harassment by a former employee. The story was broken by Scroll.in and several other Left to far Left portals. In her affidavit, the woman has reportedly stated that her sufferings have become unbearable and there is now an imminent danger to her life. She has requested the judges of the SC to form an inquiry committee to look into the matter.

The woman’s affidavit reportedly reads, “He hugged me around the waist, and touched me all over my body with his arms and by pressing his body against mine, and did not let go. He told me ‘hold me’, and he did not let go of me despite the fact that I froze and tried to get out of his embrace by stiffening and moving my body away.”

A 3 Judge Bench held a special sitting today to discuss a matter of great public importance that touched upon the independence of the Judiciary.

Attorney General KK Venugopal and SG Tushar Mehta were present in the Court along with the President and members of the Supreme Court Bar Association were present.

CJI Ranjan Gogoi said that today, The Scroll, Leaflet, The Wire and The Caravan have published detailed reports on sexual harassment charges levelled against him. He received detailed communication from the four organisations yesterday. The communication said that a former employee has levelled allegations of sexual harassment and says she is being threatened and that the Secretary-General has responded to the publications.

The CJI said, “All I would like to say is this, undoubtedly every employee are treated fairly and decently. This employee was there for a month and a half. Allegations came and I didn’t deem it appropriate to reply to the allegations”.

He said that this lady has a criminal background and has two FIRs lodged against her already. There are criminal FIRs against her husband as well. The state has in fact filed cancellation of bail application which is up for hearing today and how a lady with a criminal background got employed in the Supreme Court is a question that has been posted to the Delhi Police. CJI said that the lady who is alleging harassment now was also arrested in connection with some FIRs.

CJI said, “After 20 years of selfless service. It is unbelievable …With a bank balance of 6,80,000 that is in my bank account. This is my total asset. When I started as a judge, I have much hope. On the verge of retirement, I have 6 lakhs”.

“They cannot catch me on money, so they have brought up this”, said CJI.

CJI Gogoi also added that there are only two offices in the country which are completely independent- the PMO and the office of the CJI.

The CJI then alleged something grave. He said that this could not be the “plot” of a junior assistant but there is something larger at play here. The plot seems to be that of attempting to deactivate the Judiciary and the seat of CJI.

He said he has to tell the citizens of India that the judiciary is under serious threat and with such plots, good people will never come to the Judiciary, however, he will still carry on with his job. He added that this issue (of sexual harassment charges) won’t be considered by him but senior most judges and his brothers.

SG Tushar Mehta said that this surely sounds like a conspiracy and that “rubbish was being published”. AG Venugopalan chimed in saying that according to the law, names cannot be published but they were.

The CJI responded by saying that it was his responsibility to take this unusual measure to convene this sitting and hence, he has taken this step.

Attorney General KK Venugopalan said that as an officer of the Court, he too is under attack and he being constantly attacked for defending the Government of the day.

In fact, when Attorney General spoke about being under attack, the Chief Justice, Ranjan Gogoi also said that no judge would want to preside on cases if this is the kind of attack that they have to face especially because for officers of the court, reputation is all that they have and even that is being attacked.

Interestingly, the CJI said that he was to hear important matters next week and this is an attempt to dissuade him. Next week the CJI is scheduled to hear contempt petition against Rahul Gandhi, the release of the film on PM Modi Biopic, and also the petition seeking deferment of polls in TN on the charge of huge bribes being paid to voters.

In April 2018, senior advocate Harish Salve had incidentally mentioned that Congress is going to use the Judiciary to destabilise the Government of India. After the Supreme Court had dismissed the conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Judge Loya, which was also furthered by the Caravan Magazine and other leftist portals, the Congress party had hit back at the Judiciary. They had initiated impeachment proceedings against the then Chief Justice of India and attacked the Judiciary for lack of impartiality. Vice President had written scathing observations rejecting the impeachment motion moved by Congress against the CJI at the time.

CJI Ranjan Gogoi himself had come down hard on lawyers who had filed review petitions against the judgement giving clean chit to the Rafale deal. He had said that lawyers who filed the review petitions were going to the media for publicity instead of fixing flaws in their own petitions. CJI Ranjan Gogoi had given a clean chit to the Rafale case. On December 14 the Supreme Court had dismissed a batch of petitions challenging the Rafale deal saying that there was no occasion to “really doubt the decision-making process” requiring the setting aside of the contract. Petitions seeking the filing of the FIR and a court-monitored probe into the alleged irregularities in the Rafale deal entered into between India and France were rejected by the Apex Court. The CJI had also come under heavy attack by the Congress ecosystem for giving a clean chit to Rafale.

Only a few days ago, Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Monday issued a notice to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and sought an explanation from him for his comments after the Supreme Court verdict on Rafale. Rahul Gandhi had distorted the SC order while talking to the media, and said that Supreme Court has accepted that there is some form of corruption in Rafale deal and that “chowkidaar ne chori karwayi hai”. The Supreme Court observed that it had on “no occasion” made any comments as attributed by Gandhi and that the judgment was solely on the legal question of admissibility of documents produced by review petitioners. The top court has asked Rahul Gandhi to reply by April 22.

Kumaraswamy questions Balakot airstrikes, says bombs had hurt only trees

Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy who is often seen whining about the conduct of the MLAs of the Congress Patry which happens to be the alliance partner of the JD(S) in the State, responded to the PM Modi’s jibe at the Congress-JD(S) that the parties were hurt when air strikes were conducted on Pakistan.


Kumaraswamy retaliated by saying that they were not hurt because the bombs were dropped in some inhabited forest area. Questioning the airstrikes, he said that he came to know about the airstrikes through newspapers only and that the PM did not give full information to the people about the airstrikes. “We do not know anything about the air strike. We read only in the newspapers. You (Modi) did not give the complete information to the people of India about the air strikes”, he said addressing the reporters in Hubbali.

Discrediting PM Modi the Karnataka CM said that the Prime Minister was publicising the air strikes. “He (Modi) publicises it as if he himself carried out the air strike and nobody had ever crossed the Pakistan border in the past,” he added. He compared PM Modi with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and said that she created Bangladesh while Modi did nothing. “Did Narendra Modi form Bangladesh? It is Indira Gandhi’s gift. What have you (Modi) done?”, questioned Kumaraswamy.

The Karnataka CM also took a dig at PM Modi’s visit to Pakistan when Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He questioned as to what harmony was established with the country. “You only went there with a shawl to celebrate an event with the (then) prime minister (Nawaz Sharif). What discussions you had there? What harmony you could establish with the Pakistan prime minister whom you gave the shawl?”, he said.

Recently Kumaraswamy had expressed his jealousy about PM Modi’s good looks. He had alleged that the Prime Minister wakes up every morning and applies make-up and wax on his face so that he looks good.

Former employee accuses CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment, CJI denies the charges

In a shocking development, a female former staffer of the Supreme Court of India has leveled serious allegations against CJI Ranjan Gogoi. As per a report in Scroll.in, a 35-year-old woman who worked in as a junior court assistant in the SC has accused the CJI of sexual harassment.

As per the report, the woman has written to 22 judges of the SC, alleging that CJI Gogoi had made sexual advances on her at his residential office on October 10 and 11. The woman has reportedly submitted an affidavit with a covering letter to the 22 judges.

The woman’s affidavit reportedly reads, “He hugged me around the waist, and touched me all over my body with his arms and by pressing his body against mine, and did not let go. He told me ‘hold me’, and he did not let go of me despite the fact that I froze and tried to get out of his embrace by stiffening and moving my body away.”

The woman has mentioned that after she had rebuffed the CJI’s sexual advancements, she was moved out of his residential office and then after two months, was dismissed from her job. One of the three reasons mentioned in the inquiry report as the grounds of her dismissal were she had taken a casual leave of one day without informing.

The woman had further alleged that the harassment did not stop even after her dismissal on December 21, 2018. She has added that her husband and her brother-in-law, who are both head constables in Delhi police, were suspended for an old case of colony dispute back from 2012 which had been mutually resolved.

Further, the woman has written that on January 11, a police officer took her to the CJI’s residence where the CJI’s wife asked her to apologise by prostrating on the floor and rubbing her nose n the ground. Despite her apology, the woman’s disabled brother-in-law who was appointed by the CJI as a temporary court staffer was allegedly dismissed from his job.

The woman alleges further that after all this, she and her husband were brought from their ancestral village in Rajasthan by the Delhi police over a complaint of cheating and bribery and were detained at the Tilak Marg police station along with other family members without food and water and were abused verbally and physically. The woman has also submitted video evidence of her conversation with a police officer where she is being told that a big man will never admit his mistake and she has to suffer the consequences.

In her affidavit, the woman has reportedly stated that her sufferings have become unbearable and there is now an imminent danger to her life. She has requested the judges of the SC to form an inquiry committee to look into the matter.

The Scroll.in has further published the response of the CJI over the issue wherein he has denied all the allegations and has mentioned that she was indeed posted at the CJI’s home office but given the nature of her work, she had, under no occasion, been alone with the CJI.

the CJI’s response also mentions that the said woman’s dismissal from her job and that of her brother in law were done only as per procedure and any police actions or departmental inquiry against them must have been under the rules of the Delhi Police which has nothing to do with the CJI’s office.

The CJI’s response calls the intent behind the woman’s allegations mischievous and scurrilous. It also points out that the woman has a criminal case pending against her and there is also an application in the court for the cancellation of her bail listed on 20 April, wherein she is accused of threatening the complainant of the bribery case.

The response also mentions that the woman and her family members have criminal cases against them and since the woman had made no complaints of harassment during the period of her employment and there were multiple complaints of misconduct against her, the allegations of sexual harassment must have been an afterthought as a pressure tactics to come out of the proceedings initiated against her.

Congress 2019 candidate from Chhattisgarh says PM Modi should be ‘hanged till death’, BJP hits out

2019 Lok Sabha elections have been marred with controversial and shameful statements made by entitled politicians who abhor the thought PM Modi being the front runner. Another shameful statement has come to the fore. Congress MLA Laljeet Rathiya from Dharamjaygarh, Chhattisgarh has asserted that Prime Minister Modi should be hanged to death.

Addressing a group of voters, ABP reports that Laljeet Rathiya, who is the Congress candidate from Raigarh, Chhattisgarh said “PM Modi ko phansi pad chhada dena chahiye”. Translated, that would mean “PM Modi should be hanged till death”.

The BJP has reacted strongly to this statement by a Congress MLA and candidate. Hitting out at Congress, BJP said that Congress wants votes and wants to come to power so they can hang PM Modi till death and give him the capital punishment.


BJP also said that Congress wants to come back to power so they can keep Sadhvi Pragya hungry for 24 days in a row. BJP termed these statements by Congress as their arrogance while tweeting the video of Rathiya making the controversial statement.

Congress has been making controversial and shameful statements this election season in order to garner votes. Recently, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said that the President of India was elected by the BJP because of his caste and Mayawati had only recently said that PM Modi belonged to ‘fake backward class’ among many others.

Rajasthan: Congress MLA Johari Lal Meena booked for raping a widowed woman multiple times

A case has been registered against Rajasthan Congress MLA from Rajgarh, Johari Lal Meena, on Friday for allegedly raping a widow several times, reports ANI.

The FIR has been reportedly registered under IPC section 376 (punishment for rape) against the Congress MLA after a criminal complaint was filed against him in a local court.

Meena then allegedly raped the victim who was in an inebriated condition and was unable to stop him. According to the victim, Meena not only raped her but threatened her while returning back to the village stating that he had made a video of the incident. He threatened to make the clip public if she dared to file a complaint against him.

The victim also added that Meena once again forced her to visit his home and raped her again on March 24. A case has now been registered under section 328, 384 and 376 of IPC and the investigation has been handed over to the state CB-CID.

Johri Lal Meena, a Congress MLA from Alwar’s Rajgarh-Lakshamngad constituency has been involved in various other controversies. Soon after Rajasthan assembly elections, Johri Lal Meena was seen reprimanding Dalit voters of his constituency, for not voting for him during assembly elections. He had declared that he will not work for Dalit villagers since they had not voted for him.

Congress MP candidate equates PM Modi and CM Yogi’s aunt, mother and sister to stray cattle

In the latest, Congress leader Vinay Kumar Pandey, who is contesting from the Kaisarganj parliamentary constituency, on Friday made an abhorrent personal attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, equating stray bovines to their family members.

The Congress ecosystem is such that in their hatred for Modi it is willing to stoop to any level. The party’s discourse hit a fresh low every time one of its leaders come out to verbalize their thought process.

While speaking to media persons about the menace caused by stray cows and bulls on roads causing problems to farmers and pedestrians, Congress leader said, “When people are travelling, they see stray bulls and cows on roads that are posing a problem for the farmers as well. This is not only a problem for the farmers but for people travelling as well. When people in cars look at these animals they say ‘Look, Modi and Yogi’s aunt is sitting there’, some say ‘their sister is sitting there’, and some say that their father is sitting there or mother is lying there.”

This is not the first time that Congress leaders have resorted to ad hominem attacks against PM Modi. Senior Congress leaders seem to be purposefully following a pattern of abusing Prime Minister Modi and dragging his family into politics by targetting his caste hid family and even his humble background.

A few months back, Congress leader Vilasrao Muttemwar had said that nobody knows who Modi’s father is. Before this, Actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar had dragged PM Modi’s aging mother after he compared the devaluing rate of the Indian rupee to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aged mother. Senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had referred to PM Modi as a ‘Chaiwala’ and had once called him as ‘neech insaan’. Shashi Tharoor had called him a ‘Scorpion sitting on a Shivling’ and that’s why they cannot hit him with a ‘Chappal’.

In a yet another display of uncouth behaviour Karnataka Congress leader had called PM Modi “Namard”, while Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera had said MODI stands for Masood, Osama, Dawood, ISI. Going with the trend, recently, Congress veteran leader, Digvijay Singh had resorted to a personal attack against PM Modi over his marital status & education.

But what can be said to the party which is led by someone who himself is the connoisseur of such misconduct? The Gandhi scion often makes such distasteful remarks about Prime Minister Modi which are some times based on his own imagination and are nowhere close to reality.

Rahul Gandhi had recently, attacked Prime Minister Modi by linking his surname with those of fugitive businessmen charged with corruption, Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi saying ‘all Modis are thieves’.

BJP base forced Sadhvi Pragya to apologize, why doesn’t ‘secular’ voter demand same from ‘secular’ parties?

In less than 24 hours, Sadhvi Pragya, now the BJP candidate from Bhopal, took back her words on Hemant Karkare. The BJP’s core voter simply would not stand for such language against a man who gave his life defending the nation against terrorists. Does it not say something good about the core voter of BJP?

Now, here is the man that Sadhvi Pragya is up against in Bhopal.

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A veteran Congress leader, a two-term Chief Minister, releasing a book that asks whether the 26/11 terrorist attack was a conspiracy by the RSS! Could there have been a worse way of undermining India’s stance against Pakistan sponsored terrorism on the global stage? Not surprisingly, Pakistani media took great joy in publicizing this event worldwide, playing it up as “proof” of their innocence.

But Digvijay Singh never apologized for something as terrible as this. What does that tell you?

This article is not about politicians or parties. This post is about people. Politicians do not exist in a vacuum. Politicians cater to their supporters. And different parties have different support bases.

So why did Digvijay Singh never apologize? Simple. Because the Congress Party calculated these remarks would actually be well received by their core voter or at least a huge section of their core voters.

This is hardly an isolated incident and hardly limited to the Congress Party. Everyone remembers how leaders from ‘secular’ parties repeatedly referred to Lashkar terrorist Ishrat Jahan as an “innocent college girl”.

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Another great ‘secular’ leader. The formidable Pawar Saheb is a veteran of politics, a prodigy who became CM of Maharashtra at the age of 37 years. Does anybody really think Pawar Saheb would not understand the consequences of such statements? No, the reason such views were expressed is that ‘secular’ parties understand that it plays well with their core voter.

Or you could take Sushil Shinde, who declared in 2013 that BJP was a terrorist organization. At the time, Shinde was Home Minister of India.

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In 2013, the BJP had over one hundred elected MPs and was ruling several major states. The BJP has been embedded in government at local, state and central levels for decades. India’s Home Minister stating that BJP is a terror outfit is practically like India officially declaring itself a terrorist state. Truly unprecedented in the history of the world.

Another disaster for India’s global stance against terrorism. And Shinde never apologized either.

But it played well with the core voter of secular parties. That’s why they said it. Why else would so many ‘secular’ leaders question the sacrifice of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in the Batla House encounter? One of the people who spread lies about Batla House encounter is now the Chief Minister of Delhi!

This is what I have been saying. India’s secular politicians know that their base will reward them for such remarks.

Not only do ‘secular’ politicians know that their base will reward them, they also understand exactly where to make such statements.

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I am only going to make passing references to the small fry : a number of MPs and MLAs from secular parties actually wrote to the President of India requesting mercy for terrorist Yakub Memon who had been sentenced to death for his role in the Mumbai serial blasts that killed over 250 innocent Indians.

Perhaps, even more shockingly of the politicians who spoke in support of Yakub Memon were based in Maharashtra themselves. They weren’t hurting the feelings of their base, they were catering to it.

This is a tweet from last year, from the Congress official handle

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Mentioning by name “activist” Vernon Gonsalves who has been convicted and served a jail term in a case related to left-wing terrorism.

By the way, did you know that within weeks of the November-December 2018 state elections, the new Congress government decided to drop murder charges against certain people in Chhattisgarh? Among them, the spouse of a top editor who founded a prominent left-wing website that is deeply wired into the secular propaganda machine.

Sadhvi Pragya had to take back her words because the BJP understood that their core voter would not rally behind any perceived insult to a police officer who died for the nation.

But ‘secular’ parties expect no such backlash from their voters. Rather they expect rewards. Why? Who is this core voter of ‘secular’ parties that would rather give a clean chit to Pakistan and blame 26/11 on the RSS? You tell me.

BSE slams propagandist Kunal Kamra for ‘unauthorised and illegal use of BSE building for nefarious activities’, contemplates legal action

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today pulled up propagandist masquerading as ‘comedian’ Kunal Kamra for ‘unauthorised and illegal use of BSE building for nefarious activities’.

The BSE was referring to a morphed image Kamra had posted on his social media account which had the BSE building with the ticker which displayed the text ‘Don’t Vote For Modi’.

The bourse was not too pleased with Kamra’s ‘sense of humour’ and expressed its disappointment. The BSE even tweeted that they reserve the right to take appropriate legal action against Kamra. Kamra, in his propaganda, has been running a campaign asking his followers not to vote for Modi. In his bid to run an anti-Modi propaganda, Kamra ended up morphing the picture of the stock market, which could have created a wave of panic at the stock market.

Instead of admitting his mistake that he may have crossed his line and ended up giving fodder to those who spread fake news by passing off morphed image as himself Karma thought it was incredibly funny to mock the stock exchange.

In the past, Congress leader Nagma Morarji has been caught spreading a Photoshopped image to peddle anti-Modi agenda. Aam Aadmi Party worker had recently spread a fake message of Prime Minister Modi’s death. Madhya Pradesh Congress’ official Twitter account was caught spreading maliciously cropped satire article as real news. Propagandist and low IQ journalist Pritish Nandy was also caught using an example of fake news to spread fake news.

Azam Khan tells voters that ‘voting for Congress is like eating shit covered with silver foil’

Samajwadi Party (SP ) leader Azam Khan does not seem to mend his ways despite being subjected to a 72-hour ban by the Election Commission for making misogynist remarks against BJP Lok Sabha candidate Jaya Prada.

https://youtu.be/WE9L-wTbgBI?t=137

After resuming his election campaign from Moradabad after ban, Azam Khan told the voters that Congress is not going to win the elections and that it is trying to divide their vote. “You know very well that Congress Party is not winning here. It is trying to divide your vote. If you want to eat shit, eat it directly don’t cover it with silver foil”, he said. The Samajwadi Party leader, using his typical sarcastic tone in Urdu, termed voting for Congress as eating shit covered with silver foil.

Addressing the people in Moradabad constituency where the Congress has fielded Imran Pratapgarhi against SP-BSP-RLD alliance candidate S T Hassan, Khan insinuated that the Muslim voters should vote for Congress candidate. Khan said, “Ye baat har gaddar se keh do use gandagi khana h to sidhe khae chandi ka varak lga kar na khae” (Tell this to every traitor that if they want to eat shit they should eat directly and not cover it with silver foil).

Azam Khan also lashed out at the media and accused them of showing him in bad light. Calling the media as people’s “badtareen dushman” (worst enemies), Khan urged people not to listen to the news . “Inki khabron par mat jana ye tumhare badtareen dushman hain. Inhone 2 din jo zabaan mere liye istemaal ki hai agar mai patthar ka bana hota to mera dil fat jata khoon behar mai mar gya hota“, he said. (Don’t trust their news. They are your worst enemies. Because of the language they used for me for two days, had I not been made of stone my heart would have ruptured and I would have died of bleeding.) He asked people not to waste their time watching television and to stop listening to their community being abused.

Azam Khan was barred by the Election Commission from campaigning for 72 hours for making outrageous and sexist remarks against Jaya Prada.

Desperate times? At loggerheads for decades, Mayawati and Mulayam share stage in UP’s Mainpuri after 25 years

After almost 25 years of political rivalry, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati shared the stage with SP’ patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav at a rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri on Friday.


In the rally, which was organised to spread a message of bonhomie between both the parties, Mayawati campaigned for Mulayam and asked people to vote for the SP founder in Mainpuri. This time, Mulayam Singh Yadav, instead of contesting from Azamgarh, is contesting from Mainpuri constituency in the Lok Sabha elections 2019.

This is the first time the two stalwarts are seen together after 1993. the two parties forged an alliance to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1993. After the BJP wave took over Uttar Pradesh politics after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, Mulayam and BSP founder Kanshi Ram decided to forge a historic alliance to tackle the resurgent BJP and to keep the saffron party out of power.

The coalition formed the government with Congress’s support from the outside. But the tie-up could not last long. Political rivalry and bickering had followed. Finally, the infamous guesthouse incident, where Mayawati was attacked and by SP goons had ended the alliance.

In June 1995, when BSP had announced taking back its support from the Mulayam government, she was attacked by SP goons inside the Meerabai guesthouse in Lucknow. Reports say that the goons had beaten her up and had torn up her clothes when BJP MLA Bhahmadutt Dwivedi had to risked his life to fight with the goons and rescue Mayawati. Mayawati and Mulayam had been archenemies since then.

On January 12, 2019, SP and BSP once again declared, in a joint press conference done by BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, that they will be contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under an alliance. This opportunistic alliance is forged to basically tackle the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, otherwise, the party insiders also believe that this alliance will not work in both the party’s favor.

In fact, along with other MLA’, SP MLA from Sirsaganj of Firozabad, Hari Om Yadav had raised serious qualms over the coalition between the SP and BSP for the Lok Sabha Elections.

Meanwhile, Mayawati, while campaigning for SP’ patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav in the rally in Mainpuri, took a jibe at PM Narendra Modi and called him a ‘fake OBC’. “Isme koi sandeh nahi hai ki inhone (Mulayam) SP ke banner ke tale UP mein sabhi samaj ke logon ko apni party mein joda hai. Ye PM Modi ki tarah nakli veh farzi pichde varg ke nahi hain, Mulayam ji asli hain. janam-jaat pichde varg ke hain, Mayawati said.

Responding to critics who raised questions on BSP-SP alliance, Mayawati, a former Uttar Pradesh CM said, “They want to know why I had entered an alliance despite my past equations with Mulayam Singh Ji and the state guest house episode. But we sometimes have to take such tough decisions, keeping national interests in mind.”

It is, however, no secret that the only thing that has driven SP and BSP together is political desperation. After BJP’s massive sweep of Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and a landslide victory in 2017 assembly elections, both parties have been reduced to their weakest level in a long time.

Meanwhile, the SP-BS-RLD alliance is contesting on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats of the state with SP contesting on 37 seats, BSP on 38 and RLD on three seats. Two seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli were left for the Congress without any pre-poll understanding.

Whether or not the alliance manages to hold on to their caste-based vote banks in the general election remains to be seen as Uttar Pradesh is set to vote in all seven phases. Results will be declared on May 23.