BSP to contest 150 LS seats — Kanshiram

MUMBAI, MAY 6: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would contest at least 150 Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming general elections but would no...

MUMBAI, MAY 6: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would contest at least 150 Lok Sabha seats in the forthcoming general elections but would not have any truck or electoral understanding with the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in view of their "pro-rich" attitude, according BSP president Kanshiram.

Both, Congress and BJP had lost their right to govern the country because they were the parties of the rich and aimed at capturing power by manipulating voters through money power, Kanshiram said in an interview to PTI here on Thursday.

The BSP president, who arrived here on Wednesday night on a three-day visit, said his party wanted to become strong at the cost of BJP and Congress and BSP’s strategy would be to marginalise BJP and Congress below the 150 mark.

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He said BSP favoured a hung Parliament this time because it felt that BJP or Congress was not fit to rule the country.

"I do not see any democracy in India although the country is described as the largest democracy in the world,"Kanshiram said and alleged that Congress and BJP were involved in a conspiracy to exploit the poor through money power.

Kanshiram said the BSP would contest all the 85 seats in Uttar Pradesh on its own and hoped to capture at least 50 per cent leaving the rest to the other parties. Besides, BSP would also contest some Lok Sabha seats in six states neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

In the rest of the country, including Maharashtra, Kanshiram said his party would contest a few seats even though BSP may not emerge victorious.