NEW DELHI--Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday snubbed Chandrashekhar Azad, the Dalit youth leader who was released from jail just days ago, and denied any association with him.
Speaking with reporters in Lucknow two days after Azad referred to her as bua in an interview, Mayawati said, "For some years now, I have seen that some people, for their vested political interests—some in their defence, some to show themselves as young—are forcefully trying to establish relationships, such as brother-sister or bua-bhatija (aunt-nephew) with me. Moreover, under a planned conspiracy, the person involved in the bloody and casteist Dalit oppression case in Shabbirpur village of Saharanpur... as per the BJP's plans, this person who recently came out of jail... is now announcing a relation of bua, and of blood, with me."
She further added, "
I want to tell people of his kind that, in reality, I cannot have a relationship with them... With all my heart and respect, I only have a relationship with the crores of Dalits, tribals and people of other weaker sections for whom my life is devoted." The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also said that if Azad was indeed her well-wisher, he would have worked under the BSP's flag instead of creating a separate organisation.
About the grand alliance with the Samajwadi Party and Congress, Mayawati said that she would only choose to opt in if her party received a "respectable share" of seats.