Jayant Chaudhary slams Mayawati for ignoring plight of Dalits

Agra, Feb 12 (ANI): Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday lashed out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati for ignoring the plight of the Dalits and the farming community.

Jayant, who is the son of RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh, said Mayawati paid no heed to the plight of Dalits and farmers when they were attacked.

"In this state, Dalits have been attacked, farmers have been attacked, young people don't have employment, and basic problems of people have not been addressed. I call her arrogant because she installed her own statues in her lifetime. The chief minister didn't visit the victims of major incident. All these are reflective of her thinking," Jayant told Asian News International (ANI) in Agra.

The RLD leader admitted that the party had forged alliances with different parties in past, but their voters had not deserted them.

Jayant said the RLD, which has five lawmakers in the Lok Sabha, raised the issue of land acquisition and encircled Parliament while others remain quiet.

"We have forged political alliances, changed them, broken them and have formed new alliances. But neither our supporters nor we have left each other. Other people were quiet but we raised the issue of land acquisition and encircled Parliament while others remain quiet," he added.

Jayant also urged the leaders of various political outfits not to make personal attacks on other leaders during their election campaign in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

"The people who are campaigning should put forward their positive agenda. We do criticize other leaders; I openly criticize the functioning of Mayawati among people. We should not make personal attack instead we should put forward our positive agenda," he added.

The RLD, which has sizeable presence in western Uttar Pradesh, is an ally of the ruling Congress Party.

A total of around 59 percent voters on Saturday cast their vote for the 59 seats in nine districts in the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Polling for the second round was largely reported to be peaceful in nine districts of Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur.

An impressive 62 to 64 percent voter turnout was recorded on Wednesday registered in the first phase of assembly elections for 55 seats.

The Uttar Pradesh polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

A new 403-member state assembly will be elected in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)