Tavishi Srivastava/Lucknow

BJP Legislators and ministers have started knocking the doors of the Bahujan Samaj Party in search of a ticket for the coming Vidhan Sabha elections.

BSP leader Mayawati confidently stated on Wednesday, "this is a clear indication of the nervousness of the ruling party members. Perhaps they are aware that their party is doomed and are therefore looking for safer grounds. Nearly two dozen BJP MLAs including ministers are in constant touch with me. Of course they prefer to call on me in New Delhi and want an assurance from me regarding their tickets. If promised they are willing to quit the party immediately."

While some political parties are busy looking for poll partners, others are trying to put their house in order. The BSP has all along maintained that it will go it alone in the Vidhan Sabha elections. "Alliances in the past have only proved harmful for us whereas the other party of the tie-up was at an advantage," Mayawati remarked.

"Those who left the BSP are now virtually in oblivion," she quipped as she mentioned names of several former leaders including Ram Lakhan Verma, Daya Ram Pal, Raj Bahadur, Dinanath Bhaskar, of whom little was heard after they left the BSP.

Mayawati has already started poll preparations in full swing and is holding divisional meetings of her partymen. Presently camping in the city, she told `The Pioneer' here on Wednesday: "I start my day with a meeting of party workers from 9 am. This carries on throughout the day and many times till 2 pm", she explained.

Tirelessly going on in her mission, she did not hesitate in saying, "the doors of the BSP are closed for betrayers." Hinting at the Loktantrik Congress Party and Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party, she pointed out, "we will certainly not accept those who were not loyal to their parent party and had strayed away to support the BJP government."

Regarding the hunt for alliance partners among parties, she said, "it simply proves their weakness. The BJP is desperately trying to join hands with the Rashtriya Lok Dal, while the Samajwadi Party has begun talking of the Lok Morcha. The BSP alone is sufficient to counter all the parties."

She said logically speaking the BSP would stand to gain if more parties joined the fray. "If the Congress becomes strong it will only cut into the BJP and SP votes. Hence we are in favour of a strong Congress," she said. Dismissing the existence of Kalyan Singh's Rashtriya Kranti Party she said, "the more the parties in the poll fray the brighter the chances for BSP."

Emphasising the party's ideology of Sarva Samaj, she said that the party would give tickets to all sections of society with a focus on the upper castes. "Those who have left the Manuvadi mentality will be welcome in the party," she pointed out.

Commenting on the recent expulsion of her party MLA Mukhtar Ansari, she did not hesitate in admitting his involvement in several criminal cases. In her effort to purge the party, she has decided not to admit any person with a criminal background. Quite another matter that the actual reason behind Ansari's expulsion was his growing proximity to the Samajwadi Party.