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Updated: Feb 03, 2019 23:53 IST

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday hit out at the Congress-led Madhya Pradesh government, stating that people continued to face atrocities in the state despite the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 15-year “misrule” coming to an end.

“…People are not satisfied with the performance of the newly-formed Congress government. It seems the new government is not concerned about the welfare of the masses… The atrocities and terror unleashed during the BJP regime continue under the Congress government in MP as well,” Mayawati said in a statement released after she met party leaders to review preparations for the upcoming national elections.

In the state elections held in November-December of last year, the Congress won 114 seats in Madhya Pradesh (MP) but fell two short of the majority mark in the 230-member assembly. It was able to form the government with the support of two BSP legislators.

Mayawati’s remarks come about a week after her party’s leader Rambai Singh, one of the two BSP legislators backing the chief minister Kamal Nath government, had warned of a “Karnataka-like” situation in MP if she was not given a ministerial post Two independent legislators had withdrawn support from the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government in Karnataka in January, fanning speculation that the alliance might not be able to sustain a majority in the state assembly.

“If chief minister Kamal Nath forgets his promise I may too forget my promise (to support the Congress),” Singh had said. She later said that she would continue to support the Congress government.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a BSP leader who attended Sunday’s meet said the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister asked the party’s leader to increase BSP’s vote base and also ensure that there is no division of votes that might help the BJP and the Congress.

“Mayawati held a meeting to review the poll preparedness of the party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In this regard, intense review was done vis-a-vis Madhya Pradesh,” BSP’s official statement said.

Reacting to Mayawati’s statement, MP Congress media coordinator Narendra Saluja said: “Not a single case of atrocities against SC/ST has taken place during one and a half months of Congress rule in the state. The government will take further measures to ensure that there is no oppression and if any case of oppression comes up, the government will take tough action.”

(With inputs from HTC in Bhopal)