Muzaffarnagar:

BSP chief Mayawati on Sunday said her party would take concrete steps to make western Uttar Pradesh a separate state if it comes to power at the Center.

Mayawati, while addressing a rally in support of BSP candidate Dara Singh Prajapati from Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat, also said the BJP is in power again The chances are very slim.

“You want western Uttar Pradesh to become a separate state. For this, we will take concrete steps if our government comes to power at the Centre,” Mayawati said on the occasion.

The BSP chief said if free and fair elections are held and voting machines are not tampered with, the BJP will not return to power this time.

“BJP spends most of its time making rich businessmen richer and protecting them…BJP and other political parties run their own organizations and contest elections on the back of these corporates. Electoral bond data reveals this ,” she added.

The former chief minister slammed the BJP government for not recruiting people to fill vacant posts reserved for backward communities and making redundant reservations in promotions.

Mayawati said, “With the BJP coming to power at the Center and in most states, the progress of Muslims has largely stalled over the past few years. Violence in the name of religion has increased here,” he added. The poor in India and the common class also do not get any benefits under the rules of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Prajapati’s opponents are Sanjeev Kumar Balyan of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Harendra Singh Malik of the Samajwadi Party (SP) Malik).

Before this rally, Mayawati also addressed a public meeting in Saharanpur district.

The eight assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh – Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Binnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit – will be closed on 4 Voting will take place in the first phase of the Lok Sabha polls on March 19.

Counting of votes will take place on June 4.

BS and SP jointly contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and managed to win 10 seats.

This time the group decided to go it alone. The SP, Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress are contesting as part of the India Bloc, while the Bharatiya Janata Party, Apna Dal (S), NISHAD Party and SBSP are part of the NDA alliance.

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the highest among the states in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)