To protest against the “misrule of the Mayawati government”, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has decided not to accept “state guest” status for the dignitaries who will be arriving in Lucknow for the party’s three-day national executive meeting that begins on June 3.
According to state BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi, “A large number of dignitaries, including Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Raman Singh and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, will be in Lucknow for the national executive meeting. Since all these leaders face a high security threat, it is the duty of the state government to provide adequate security to them. However, seeing the attitude of the Mayawati government towards VIPs, including Union ministers, we have made our own security arrangements and our cadres will take care of the same.” The BJP, which apprehends total non-cooperation from the Mayawati government, will also not be accepting state guest facilities for its members.
“We are making proper arrangements for their stay, conveyance etc and are not banking on the government at all,” the state president said. Though the party will “inform” the state government about the programmes of its VIP leaders, it will not bank completely on government arrangements.
“If this government can deny protocol to serving Union ministers and force them to take rickshaws to reach their destinations, we do not expect them to extend any courtesies to us either. If they do, we will welcome it, if they do not, we will have our contingency plan in place,” said another senior party leader. The BJP decision apparently stems from the fact that the state government has recently made amendments in the protocol rules and several Union ministers, including Jitin Prasada, R.P.N. Singh, Pradeep Jain Aditya and chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Mr P.L. Punia, have been denied security cover during their UP visits.
Another factor that has made the BJP shun the Mayawati government’s hospitality — if at all the government extends it — is that the party wants to dispel all speculation of a post-poll alliance with the BSP.
“We have suffered reverses merely because we allied with the BSP thrice and steadily lost our own identity in the process. We want to send out a clear message that there is no truck with the ruling BSP now. Moreover, we have been launching our campaign against the Mayawati government’s misrule and do not want that to be diluted at any cost. In fact, the national executive will focus on our UP campaign and the mood will be decidedly anti-Mayawati,” said the senior leader.