UP polls: Fear driving SP, BSP into hung verdict' talk, says Modi

Lucknow/New Delhi: As Uttar Pradesh entered the last leg of the Assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke of a hung Assembly and made a pitch to voters to give the BJP a decisive mandate, arguing that the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party would resort to bargaining in case of a fractured verdict. The BJP had got a huge mandate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, getting 71 out of the state’s 80 parliamentary seats.

Mr Modi said at a rally in Mau on Monday that the SP and BSP had “sensed defeat” and had thus launched “a new gameplan for a fractured mandate in Uttar Pradesh ... so that they can have bargaining power”.

Mr Modi said: “The SP and BSP, after the third phase of polling, have realised they have no chance of winning ... so they have launched a new game, a new technique... Even if we are defeated or our seats decrease, no one (else) should get a majority.” The PM then went on to add: “You (SP, BSP) might be thinking that in case of a hung House, you will get a chance to bargain, but the people of UP have shown you in the Lok Sabha polls by ensuring a full majority for the BJP, and in these elections they will ensure that the BJP wins with a huge margin.”

The PM said voters should give the BJP a full majority in the state so that Uttar Pradesh was hailed across the country like India was being praised across the world after the BJP got a full majority in the general election.

Mr Modi said when he as the Prime Minister shakes hands with world leaders they see “125 crore Hindustanis” in him.

Hitting out at the leadership of the SP and BSP, he said: “I want to tell the leaders of the SP and BSP to try whatever means they can to defeat the BJP, there is no problem with it... But do not play with the future of UP. It has suffered a lot in the past.”

“When the polls were announced, the SP got afraid that it will not win, (so) in a hurry they went and sat in the lap of the Congress... they boarded a sinking ship. They got encouraged by media coverage and got intoxicated and thought they will befool people,” Mr Modi said. He then added that the people, however, know how to differentiate milk from water.

Significantly Mr Modi also said that his party believes in taking its allies along even if it got a majority on its own. The PM said all its alliance partners would be made part of the BJP government in UP if it comes to power, even though on its own. “The ship of the Samajwadis has sunk... The BSP is not able to do anyhing... Bhatija (Akhilesh) is thinking how to save himself, while Bua (Mayawati) is worried (about) what bhatija has done,” he added.

“It is not as if leaders sitting in Delhi are not aware of the situation here, but they don’t have any concern... There cannot be a bigger crime...The Congress has committed a big crime, and also the SP and BSP, and they all need to be punished,” Mr Modi said.

He warned that “bahubalis” will not be able to treat jails as a safe haven after March 11. “Why is it that when a bahubali goes to jail, he smiles and poses for cameras? This is because he is safe inside and can carry out his activities without getting nailed. He gets all the comfort inside. All this is going to stop after March 11,” the PM added.

Mau, incidentally, is the stronghold of mafia don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is contesting the seat on a BSP ticket. Mukhtar, who is now in jail, was denied parole to campaign by the Delhi high court on Monday. The BJP, ironically, does not have a candidate here as the papers of its nominee were rejected during scrutiny.

Mr Modi also asked people to punish the SP, Congress and BSP for the backwardness of eastern UP, or Purvanchal. Criticising chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mr Modi said the Centre had given '18,000 crores for power to the state government, but half of it remained unspent.

“One leader recently said his comment on donkeys was a joke. Are police stations turning into Samajwadi offices a joke? Are murders, loot and crime against women a joke? You can make fun of me if it gives you sound sleep, but you have turned Uttar Pradesh into a joke in five years”, he said.