Union minister and Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma had predicted that the Samajwadi Party would win only four seats in the Lok Sabha polls which would prove to be the funeral procession of the Samajwadi Party.
“This is my political analysis and you cannot force me to believe otherwise. I feel that the Congress will get 40 seats, BSP will get 26 seats, BJP will end up with 10 seats and Mulayam Singh will get four seats,” he said.
He admitted his predictions went awry in 2012 but blamed the Congress debacle on two issues — 4.5 per cent reservation for minorities from within the OBC quota and the revival of the Batla House case. “The Congress may have to suffer again if it repeats the same mistake this time,” he said.
Asked why he was soft towards the BSP, Mr Verma said that if the then Uttar Pradesh governor, Motilal Vora, had not acted promptly, Ms Mayawati would have been killed in the state guest house incident on June 2, 1995. “But I am not going to join the BSP, I will suffocate to death there,” he said.
Mr Verma accused his one-time friend of betraying Muslims and underlined the nexus between Samajwadi leaders and the BJP.
He recalled that in 1998 Mulayam Singh had promised to support Mrs Sonia Gandhi for Prime Minister but after a meeting between him and Mr L.K. Advani at Jaya Jaitley’s house, he went back on his words. “Mulayam Singh always wanted to keep the Congress down in Uttar Pradesh and he struck a deal with the BJP behind the scenes. In 2003, when Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee was PM, Mulayam Singh was able to form a government in Uttar Pradesh with merely 135 legislators because he had Atalji’s blessings.
BJP speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi flouted all anti-defection rules till Mulayam got the numbers and then recognised the split in the BSP,” he said.
Mr Verma added that in 1990, as chief minister Mulayam Singh allowed VHP leader Ashok Singhal to reach Ayodhya and fuel religious passions because it suited him.
“He also fielded his candidates in Gujarat to divide Muslim votes and help Narendra Modi become CM,” he said.
The minister struck an emotional note when he said he would breathe his last in the Congress and that his last resolve was to see Mr Rahul Gandhi become Prime Minister.