Vote out Congress, BJP, urges Mayawati

Blaming the "faulty" policies adopted by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party for the troubles faced by the downtrodden sections of the society, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Monday asked people in Andhra Pradesh to vote out these parties.

"Vote out Congress from power and also defeat BJP for the betterment of your lives," the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said addressing a public meeting organised by the BSP at the Nizam College Grounds in Hyderabad.

The BSP chief was in Hyderabad on a day's visit to launch the party's campaign for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections, to be held in April, in the state.

Attacking the Congress, Mayawati said though the party ruled Andhra Pradesh for a better part of the last 60 years, the downtrodden sections still continued to languish without any growth.

"Poor farmers, workers, traders and virtually every section of the society is facing problems because of the gross neglect of Congress. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance is also responsible for the skyrocketing of prices of all commodities," she said.

Noting that the menace of Naxalism spread in the country due to poverty and unemployment, she said, "Please vote out the Congress and its allies, and also defeat the BJP and its partners. Vote for the Third Front and elect a government that will work for the uplift of SCs, STs, BCs, minorities."

Mayawati said the BSP was working to provide reservations to the poor among the upper castes. "Even Muslims and Christians need reservations. We have written a number of letters to the government of India in this regard, but there has been no response," the UP Chief Minister said.

The BSP, she said, would independently contest all the 294 assembly and the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh. "We will give due representation to all sections of the society," she said.