Don't want to be country's president, would rather be PM or UP CM: Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Thursday junked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's remark suggesting that the BJP could make her the country's president, signalling that she would prefer to become the prime minister someday to realise her goals for the downtrodden.

Reacting to Yadav's dig at her on Wednesday, Mayawati said she has never aspired to become the president and the Samajwadi Party leader was dreaming about it to clear his path to become the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

''I can only dream of becoming the chief minister of UP and prime minister of the country in the days to come but can never dream of becoming the president,'' she told reporters.

''I have not spent my life in comfort and have struggled to work on the path shown by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram to ensure that their followers and the downtrodden stand on their feet. All know that this work can be done not by becoming the president but by becoming the CM of UP and PM of the country,'' she said.

If Dalits, Adivasis, backwards, Muslims and the poor from the upper castes join forces with the BSP, then not only can they make its leader the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh again but also the prime minister in the time to come, she added.

The SP dreaming of making her the president for its ''selfish political motives'' is futile, said the former chief minister whose party bagged only one seat in the recent state Assembly polls.

''The reality is that the SP is dreaming of making me the president in order to clear the path (for Akhilesh Yadav) to become the CM of UP, which is not possible,'' Mayawati said.

''Despite striking alliances with different parties, the SP has not been able to form the government,'' she said.

Media reports had suggested that the BSP's votes were transferred to the BJP in the February-March state Assembly polls. A report sent by the Uttar Pradesh BJP to the central party leadership on the election also highlighted the shift of the BSP's votes to the saffron party which helped it win with a comfortable margin.

Even during the elections, Yadav had pointed towards a ''nexus'' between the BJP and the BSP as part of the deal to appoint Mayawati to a higher constitutional post.

Mayawati claimed Yadav has realised that the SP will not return to power in Uttar Pradesh in future and is looking to ''flee to a foreign country'' where he has already made all the arrangements. This is being openly discussed, she said.

She further alleged the SP and the BJP worked together to give the recent elections ''Hindu-Muslim colour'' and this brought the saffron party back in power.

The weaker sections and especially Muslims are facing continued atrocities and the SP chief is responsible for this. He is still not desisting from spreading rumours. He should give up his ''childish and disgusting politics'', she added.

Interestingly, the BSP and the SP had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as alliance partners but parted ways later and have been regularly attacking each other.

The SP won 111 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls this year.