‘Falsely called us BJP’s B-Team’: Mayawati blames SP, media for UP humiliation

BSP chief Mayawati on Friday blamed the media and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the party’s loss in Uttar Pradesh. 

In her first public address following the election results, she blamed them for misleading those who opposed the BJP, which once again secured a majority in the state.

“We have gathered feedback from the entire state. The casteist media, nasty scheming, constant negative campaigning to mislead Muslims and anti-BJP Hindus have been successful to a large extent. They created a perception that the BSP is a B-team of the BJP and is not fighting against it as vigorously as the SP is. The truth is entirely the opposite,” she said.

The BSP managed to win only one of the 403 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, far from Mayawati’s pre-poll claims that it would spring a surprise. However, the party managed to secure the third-highest vote share by bagging 12.9 per cent of the total votes polled, according to the Election Commission figures. 

The BSP won the Rasara seat in Ballia district, where its sitting MLA Umashankar Singh got 87,887 (or 43.82 per cent) of the total votes counted, the EC website showed. He defeated nearest rival Mahendra of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) by 6,583 votes.