Now,Paswan questions credibility of EVMs

He came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for her “doublespeak” on rape in the wake of the recent controversial remarks of UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

He said that Bahuguna Joshi could not be branded anti-Dalit just because of her spat with Mayawati and that torching of her house could not be justified in any way. The two are riding the same boat as far as seeking to condone rape against monetary compensation goes,he said.

Paswan said that before criticising Bahuguna,Mayawati should remember what she had told Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on the issue in the past. “If Rita Bahuguna is wrong in airing her view on the matter,so is Mayawati,” Paswan said. “Being a Dalit does not absolve her of what she had told Mulayam Singh,” he said supporting the demand for a CBI inquiry into the whole episode.

Still wondering as to what went wrong in his own defeat despite doing so much for the constituency,Paswan said his party would not have truck with the Congress in any election anywhere in the country. He said that the late announcement of RJD-Congress break up could be the principal reason for division of Dalit votes in Bihar and which led to his party’s loss.

Paswan also addressed a “Dhikkar Sabha” (hate meeting) in the Khokhra area against the June 7 liquor tragedy in the city that claimed nearly 130 lives.

He would not say that liquor was dangerous for health but said the “spurious liquor” was defiantly harmful and that his party was for strict implementation of prohibition in Gujarat.

He was non-committal about a similar ban in Bihar or elsewhere.