Bulandshahr (UP) Apr 22 (PTI) Taking credit for the development of the Noida and Greater Nodia region by the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, party supremo Mayawati on Monday accused the BJP of trying to take mileage of the works done by her government.

Seeking votes for her party nominee during an election rally in Sikandrabad Dehat of Bulandshahr district which comes in Gautam Budhnagar constituency, the BSP president recalled and said, "When my government came to power with full majority in the state, the condition of this region was very bad and there was no development."

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"We developed Noida, Greater Noida, gave a new district and university in the name of Gautam Buddha and brought an expressway here. This airport (Jewar) that they are talking about of constructing was given shape and the foundation was also laid during my government which they want to encash.

"This led to the coming of small and big industrialists here, providing to the people the opportunity of earning their livelihood. All this is not the gift of the BJP government but that of the BSP government," she said.

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"We have developed this entire region. It has been developed in every field, in education and medical health," she said.

Stressing that her party has given representation to all sections of the society in ticket allocation, the BSP president explained at length the reason behind fielding a Kshatriya candidate Rajendra Singh Solanki in the Gurjar-dominated Gautam Budhnagar seat.

"Here we have been giving tickets to the Gurjar community for the last several Lok Sabha elections, whereas the other parties had also fielded Gurjar candidates. The votes of this community got divided, giving advantage to the BJP," she said.

"The BJP has been winning the elections from here several consecutive times. Hence, it was decided that in order to prevent the BJP from winning the elections, a candidate from the Kshatriya community instead of a Gujjar community was fielded as there is a large presence of the Kshatriya community members," she said.

There is no candidate of the Kshatriya 'samaj' from any other party for the Gautam Budhnagar seat, she said.

"The Gujjar community should not feel that we have neglected them. When we did not field a Gujjar samaj candidate from Gautam Buddhnagar seat, we fielded a Gujjar samaj (Pradeep Bainsla) candidate from the Baghpat Lok Sabha seat," she said.

Mayawati claimed that if free and fair elections are held then this time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not come back to power at the Centre easily.

She said the BJP's "theatrics" or guarantees will not work in the elections this time because now the people of the country have understood them fully.

Accusing the BJP of making capitalists rich and wealthy, Mayawati said it and other parties run with their financial support. "Most of their time and energy was spent on making the big capitalists richer and giving them concessions and protection," she said.

Mayawati also promised that "under the guise of Hindutva, the immense oppression that the Muslim community is being subjected to as a result of hatred will definitely be stopped". She said the BSP government had proved this.

She also claimed that like the Congress party, the BJP has also "politicised" most of the investigating agencies at the Centre.

Taking potshots at the distribution of free foodgrains, she said it will not provide a permanent solution and this complex situation can be solved in the country only by providing "har haath ko kaam" (work to every hand). Her party will give full attention to this on coming to power at the Centre as it had done when it was ruling Uttar Pradesh, she said.

Polling in Gautam Budhnagar will be held in the second phase on April 26 alongwith Amroha, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh and Mathura.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)