No major role in UP politics, says Sushma

There is no move of change of leadership in the state, she said. “The leadership of UP is firmly in its saddle.”

The former Delhi chief minister said there was no problem within the party organisation in Uttar Pradesh. “This type of misinformation campaign is always undertaken by the Opposition parties who are without power for quite some time,” she said.

Seeking to dispel all fear about the fate of the state government, she said the government was running full steam under the experienced leadership of Ram Prakash Gupta.

She blamed the Opposition for creating “unnecessary confusion” about the role of money in the Rajya Sabha elections on March 29 and singled out Rashtriya Kranti Party leader Kalyan Singh saying leaders like him could say anything since he had no base to offer any fight to the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Swaraj equally criticised the Congress for its allegation that the BJP was responsible for the confusion following its (BJP’s) allies fielding their own candidates in the election. “How can the BJP be blamed for the acts of its allies. What about the Congress itself who has fielded its candidate despite having a strength of only 17 members against the minimum required number of 36?” she asked.

Castigating the Congress for its unsavoury remarks against her party, she said the onus was on the Congress to prove it as the BJP was not banking on money power.

In reply to a question, she said: “How could the Congress claim support of Rashtriya Lok Dal since the latter had fielded its own candidate.”