Ambedkar Nagar (UP): Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday positioned herself as a candidate for the top job, saying she may have to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar if “all goes well”.
Addressing a public rally against the backdrop of a giant cutout of her in front of Parliament captioned “Prime Minister”, she said: “If all goes well, I may have to seek election from here because the road to national politics passes through Ambedkar Nagar.”
She added, “The era of 'Namo Namo' is over and the time has come for those who chant 'Jai Bhim'.”
Mayawati has won the Lok Sabha elections from Ambedkar Nagar four times - 1989, 1998, 1999 and 2004.
The BSP chief’s statement comes close on the heels of her ally and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav endorsing her for the top post.
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had alleged that the SP and Congress were hand-in-glove and were fooling Mayawati, Yadav said, “The gathbandhan will give the country its next Prime Minister and I would be very happy if it comes from the other half of the population (women). If that happens, the Samajwadi Party will give its full support.”
This is, however, not the first time that Mayawati has expressed her prime ministerial ambitions. The BSP chief, after announcing in March that she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections, asked her party to not lose hope.
“When I became UP Chief Minister the first time in 1995 I was not a member of either the UP assembly or council. Similarly there is a provision at the centre where a person have to be a parliament member within 6 months of holding office of minister/PM. Don't be disheartened from my decision not to contest LS poll now," she tweeted.
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