Pioneer News Service/Lucknow

Vice-president of the Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati has dared Chief Minister Rajnath Singh to either prove charges of criminal background against her party leader Jaiveer Singh or resign. Mayawati had announced the candidature of Jaiveer Singh from Barauli Vidhan Sabha seat in Aligarh district when she visited the Jehrana village recently where five Dalits were allegedly killed the upper caste Thakurs.

Addressing a Press conference here on Wednesday Mayawati accused the Chief Minister of unleashing a vilification campaign against the Bahujan Samaj Party by levelling baseless charges against Jaiveer Singh. The Chief Minister had on Tuesday charged that the BSP was behind the Aligarh incident and in turn Jaiveer Singh was rewarded with a party ticket from Barauli by Mayawati for successfully executing the conspiracy to kill the Dalits with the aim of maligning the BJP government.

Mayawati also questioned the "conspiracy theory" advanced by the Chief Minister behind the incidents in Aligarh and Fatehpur. "How could there be a conspiracy when named FIRs have been lodged in all the incidents, two in Fatehpur and one in Aligarh." This theory has been cooked up only to protect the accused since they were BJP supporters, she added.

She also announced launching of a state-wide agitation by her party from July 20 to oust the BJP-led government from the state.

In the first phase of the agitation a state-wide dharna and demonstration would be organised at the district headquarters on July 20. Eleven issues would be raised during the agitation, which would be intensified in the subsequent phases, she said.

The 11 issues to be raised by the BSP included Rajnath Singh government's inability to issue fresh notification in the Ayodhya case, atrocities on members of SC and ST, increasing crimes in the state, raw deal to farmers, posting of SC/ST officers on insignificant posts, fixing the age limit for chairmen of SC/ST commission, state OBCs commission and state minority commission and non-filling of reservation quota in government jobs.

Mayawati, who addressed the state level meeting of the party here on Wednesday, said a strategy would be chalked out for the proposed agitation against the BJP government to eliminate it from the power in the next Assembly election.

The former Chief Minister said her party was even prepared for an early election and had already undertaken the party exercise for the purpose. So far candidates of half of the 403 Vidhan Sabha seats had already been decided by the party and the rest of the candidates would be finalised soon, she added.

BSP stir from July 20

Lucknow, June 20

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will launch an agitation from July 20 to expose the lapses of the BJP-led coalition government in Uttar Pradesh.

Making this announcement at a press conference here, BSP vice-president Mayawati said in the first phase of the statewide agitation, demonstrations would be organised at the district headquarters on July 20. Eleven issues would be raised during the agitation, which would be intensified in the subsequent phases, she added.

The issues to be raised by the BSP included Raj Nath Singh government’s inability to issue fresh notification in Ayodhya case, atrocities on members of the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribes, increasing crimes in the state, raw deal to farmers, posting of SC/ST officers on insignificant posts, fixing the age limit for chairmen of the SC/ST Commission, the State Backward Commission and the State Minority Commission and the non-filling of reservation quota in government jobs.

Ms Mayawati, at a state-level party meeting today, said the strategy would be chalked out for the proposed agitation against the BJP government to eliminate it from power in the next Assembly election.

Ms Mayawati said despite the BJP’s announcement to hold elections in March next year, there were all indica-tions of Assembly elections in the state in the month of October. The recent transfers of IAS and IPS officers clearly showed the intentions of the state government to hold early elections, she pointed out.

In the manner, the state government had sidelined good SC/ST officers and posted tainted officers at important places on purpose, she said, adding, that the postings were caste-influenced and were done with elections in mind.

The former Chief Minister said her party was even prepared for an early election and had already undertaken the party exercise for the same. Reiterating that the BSP would go alone in the polls, she said half of the candidates had already been decided by the party and the list of the rest of the candidates would be finalised soon.

The BSP leader said people’s support to her party was amazing in the sense that even the upper caste people were inclined towards it for the first time. The atrocities on Dalits were manifestation of sheer frustration on the part of the ruling BJP, which had colluded with the Samajwadi Party (SP) due to this fact, she alleged.

She also charged the BJP and the SP with hatching a conspiracy to eliminate her. The BJP was using the SP to demand withdrawal of her security deliberately. UNI

BJP accuses Opp for politicising Dalit killings

Pioneer News Service/Lucknow

Amidst allegations and counter-allegations on Dalit killings, the BJP blamed the opposition parties for politicising the issue by creating caste tensions.

Condemning the Dalit killings in Aligarh and Fatehpur, state BJP chief Kalraj Misra said the culprits would soon be exposed. Talking to newspersons here on Wednesday he said, the state BJP chief Kalraj Misra said he would not allow the Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party to disrupt the communal harmony for their vested interests.

Claiming that BJP had worked for the welfare of all in the society making the opposition issueless, he said, adding, "the party is not afraid of the consequences that would arise in order to maintain harmony in the society."

He announced that the party leaders would hear the grievances of the rural people during their one-night stay at 8,814 panchayats on June 24 next under the programme "chalo gaon ki sune". Chief Minister Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Misra along with other senior leaders of the party had been designated separate panchayats during this programme.