Mayawati, Congress exchange barbs in U.P.

‘B in BSP is BJP’, says Congress Uttar Pradesh unit, ‘C in Congress stands for cunning,’ says Mayawati.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday said that the ‘C’ in Congress stood for “cunning” as she attacked that party for accusing her of having a tacit understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress Uttar Pradesh unit had tweeted, “The ‘B’ in BSP means BJP.” It was an apparent dig at the BSP for allegedly helping the ruling BJP and its ally secure 67 out of 75 zilla panchayat chairperson posts in the State. Reacting to the Congress comment, Ms. Mayawati said the Congress was a party “running on oxygen” even in Uttar Pradesh. She said the Congress’s reference to ‘B’ in the BSP as the BJP was highly objectionable. The ‘B’ in BSP stands for Bahujan, which includes SCs, STs, OBCs, religious minorities and other oppressed classes, who were called Bahujan as they were in the numerical majority, she said.