Don't Want To Become President, Rather Be PM: Mayawati

BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday trashed SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav's remark suggesting that the BJP could make her the President, saying she would prefer becoming the country's Prime Minister someday to realise her goals for the downtrodden. Reacting to the dig at her on Wednesday, Mayawati said she never aspired to be the President and the Samajwadi Party leader was dreaming about it only to clear his own path to become the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

"I can only dream of becoming the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the prime minister of the country in the days to come but can never dream of becoming the President," the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, who has been chief minister four times, told reporters. Reacting to Mayawati's comments, Akhilesh Yadav said he also wanted that to happen for which he tied up with the BSP in 2019.

"I am happy with it. I also wanted that. Last time (during 2019 Lok Sabha polls) the alliance was forged for this." "Had the alliance continued, the people of 'Bahujan Samaj', BSP and those who follow principles of Bhim Rao Ambedkar would have seen who would become the prime minister," he said in reply to reporters' question.

Earlier in the day, Mayawati said, "I have not spent my life in comfort and have struggled to work on the path shown by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram to ensure that their followers and the downtrodden stand on their feet. All know that this work can be done not by becoming the President but by becoming the CM of UP and the PM of the country."

In the past as well, her party has projected her as a "future prime minister". Mayawati said if Dalits, Adivasis, the backwards, Muslims and the poor from the upper castes join forces with the BSP, not only can they make its leader the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh again but also the prime minister in the time to come. The Samajwadi Party dreaming of making her the President for its "selfish political motives" is futile, she said.

In Mainpuri on Wednesday, Yadav said the BSP  transferred its votes to the BJP in the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Now it will be interesting to see whether the BJP makes Mayawati the President or not in return,  he added. "The reality is that the SP is dreaming of making me the president to clear the path (for Akhilesh Yadav) to become the CM of UP, which is not possible," Mayawati has now responded.

"Despite striking alliances with different parties, the SP has not been able to form the government," she said. Her own party won just one seat out of 403 and got about 13 per cent of the vote in these elections. The SP won 111 seats, emerging as the main opposition to the BJP in the state. During the elections too, Yadav had claimed that there was a "nexus" between the BJP and the BSP as part of a deal to appoint Mayawati to a constitutional post. Mayawati claimed Yadav has realised that the SP will not return to power in Uttar Pradesh and is looking to "flee to a foreign country.

She alleged the SP and the BJP worked together to give the recent elections a "Hindu-Muslim colour" and this brought the saffron party back in power. She claimed that the weaker sections, particularly Muslims, face continuing atrocities and held the SP chief responsible for this. The Dalit leader accused him of not desisting from spreading rumours, and said he should give up his "childish and disgusting politics". The BSP and the SP had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as alliance partners but parted ways later, and have regularly attacked each other.

(With PTI inputs)