Maya plays Dalit card in Orissa

BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati kicked off her partys electoral campaign in Orissa with the promise of reservations to the Dalits.....

BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati kicked off her partys electoral campaign in Orissa with the promise of reservations to the Dalits,tribals,economically backward upper castes and the religious minorities.

At a public meeting in the western Orissa town of Sambalpur with over 10,000 people in attendance,Mayawati said Orissa lagged behind in all areas and that the BSP remained the only way out as it pursued an economic policy not for the capitalists but for the common man.

Mayawati,who first made her way to the Jamadarpali Airstrip near the Hirakud dam in a plane and then arrived at the Ainthapalli meeting venue in a chopper,read out from a prepared speech amid slogans like Desh Ki Majboori,Mayawati Zaroori. Assuring that all sections of society would be taken care of if the BSP was voted to power,she said that while her state government had moved for reservation for economically backward among the upper castes and religious minorities,the Centre did nothing over it.

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Mayawati also declared that the BSP would not enter into any alliance with any party in the state while listing out names of 14 BSP candidates for the Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the first phase. BSP national executive member and Orissa in-charge Siddharth Patil said the BSP would field candidates in all the 147 Assembly segments and 21 LS constituencies.

Although there seem slim chances of the BSP winning any of the seats either in the Assembly or Lok Sabha elections,it may play spoilsport for the Congress in places like Nuapada.