Uttar Pradesh: Narendra Modi lying to farmers; his government anti-farmer: BSP chief Mayawati

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying to farmers and dubbed his government "anti-farmer". "Modi is speaking lies about clearance of pending dues of sugarcane farmers in Uttar Pradesh," Mayawati told reporters here. She also took digs at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also dubbed the BJP as "anti-farmer party" and said it is making "false claims". "The Bharatiya Janata Party has also lied that dues of sugarcane farmers in the state have been cleared. The fact is they are lying," she said. The BSP leader said it was her government in Uttar Pradesh which cleared dues of sugarcane farmers pending since the rule of earlier state governments. Slamming the central government, Mayawati said: "In the last two and a half years, the government led by Modi has not even fulfilled one-third of the poll promises made during the 2014 general elections." "This is the reason why they are taking out the Parivaratan Yatra in Uttar Pradesh, They are trying to hide their failures," she remarked. Mayawati said the BJP was ferrying crowds for its Parivartan Yatra from neighbouring BJP-ruled states. Giving credit to the state government led by her in the past, Mayawati said: "Uttar Pradesh witnessed development under my government. And it was under my government that the poor were benefitted." She asked the voters to remain alert and not to be taken in by BJP promises. Targetting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the BSP chief said: "Had he worked for the state's development, there was no need for him to now take out a Rath Yatra." Mayawati asked Samajwadi Party's chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to focus on improvement of law and order in the poll-bound state instead of focusing on Yadav family feud. Asked about talks of a Grand Alliance by the ruling Samajwadi Party, Mayawati quipped: "There was no need for any alliance if they had done work in the last five years." She denied the BSP will go for an alliance ahead of the 2017 assembly polls. "Our party doesn't need any party's support. It is the weak who need support."