'Modi-Shah Guru Chela' Will Have Sleepless Nights: 10 Takeaways From Mayawati's Alliance Address

New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) scripted history on Saturday when the once-sworn rivals formally declared their alliance for the Lok Sabha polls. Here are 10 key points from the politically charged announcement:

— BSP supremo Mayawati began the press conference with a jibe at BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Calling them ‘guru chela’, she said, “Modi and Shah are going to have sleepless nights after this press conference."

— Portraying the political strength of the alliance, Mayawati said in 1993, then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP’s architect Kanshi Ram contested together and won by huge margins. “We will repeat history," she said.

— Mayawati called it an alliance of Ambedkar and Lohia's followers against casteist and communal BJP.

— She criticised the BJP’s attitude towards the poor of the country and said the party had not fulfilled its promises made to its voters. The BSP chief also called the national party’s way of rule as “dictator like".

— “We will be power of the backwards, poor, minorities. The BJP has formed the government at the Centre and the state by deceiving people. We have already started to defeat BJP in bypolls," said Mayawati. She also said Congress has lost deposit in by-elections as well.

— On why Congress was not included in the alliance, she said: “Let me tell you, post-independence Congress was in Centre and many states. Still there was rampant corruption and poverty." She also equated the BJP with the Congress, saying it’s the “same if Congress or BJP is at the Centre."

— “Both the parties have done embezzlement in defence deals in their tenure. Congress lost due to Bofors, BJP will lose because of Rafale," she said.

— The BSP supremo also said it was a declared Emergency during the Congress rule, while “today it’s undeclared Emergency under BJP rule".

— "Our votes go to other parties instead of Congress. In such case, Congress gains from us but we don't and also our vote percentage dips," she said, talking about why Congress was not included in the alliance.

— She added that the alliance would continue in 2022 as well as beyond it.