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"Make Mayawati the prime minister if you want to curb the ever rising prices," that was the pitch the Bahujan Samaj Party raised across Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling party staged a statewide protest demonstration against rising prices of essential commodities in general and the recent steep hike in the price of petrol and petroleum products.
Flaying the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the centre, and holding it responsible for the unabated price rise, BSP leaders made it a point to stress that, "none other than Mayawati can bring down the prices in the country."
In Lucknow, a huge rally on Tuesday was led by Mayawati's protege, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who sought to repeatedly impress upon the crowds that Mayawati alone had the magic wand to rid the country of all its ills. "While we urge the central government to roll back the price hike of petrol and petroleum products, we must also resolve here today to herald Mayawati as the country's next prime minister, because she is the only leader who has the mettle to check and curb price rise," Siddiqui said."I am confident that with Mayawati at the helm of affairs , the nation would not find it difficult to tide over many a crises facing us", he sought to point out.
The rally was a part of the ruling party's protest demonstration staged by BSP members at each of the 71 district headquarters across the state. While Siddiqui led the demonstration in Lucknow, other BSP ministers and prominent party leaders were detailed to lead similar demonstrations in their respective areas of influence. The rally comes close on the heels of a similar show convened separately by the left parties and the Bhartiya Janata Party on Monday.
Even as Mayawati herself chose to remain confined to her official residence in Lucknow, she made it a point to spread the word that the Congress-led UPA government at the centre "was not interested in controlling prices as their game was to benefit powerful industrial houses closely aligned to the Congress party."
Since it was a government sponsored affair in UP, no violence was reported from any part of the state except from Kanpur where an exchange of fire between two rival groups within the BSP left two injured.