BSP Mayavati breaks up with the UPA Government

Already buffeted by the nuclear stand off with the Left and the runaway inflation, the UPA government on Saturday suffered another jolt when the BSP withdrew support to the coalition at the Centre.Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati withdrew the support of 17 BSP MPs to the UPA government.
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She carried out her oft-repeated warnings of withdrawing the support accusing the Congress-led coalition of "neglect, step-motherly treatment and negative approach" towards her state and on the issue of runaway inflation.At a press conference in New Delhi, she distributed copies of her letter to President Pratibha Patil withdrawing the support, which was also sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.The withdrawal of support by BSP, which comes at a time when the government is involved in a serious stand off with the Left parties on the Indo-US nuclear deal, does not really threaten the existence of the UPA government as such.But, if the Left parties choose to withdraw support of their 59 MPs, then the BSP decision could put pressure on the government to look for support from other sources like BSP's rival SP which has 39 MPs.In a House with an effective strength of 543, the UPA enjoys support of 237 members -- 35 short of simple majority.She ridiculed a questioner who wanted to know whether she would support a no-confidence motion against the UPA government saying the issue was obvious when she was withdrawing support. She, however, said that a decision on a no-confidence motion would be taken when it comes up.Dismissing a question whether she would move closer to BJP, Mayawati said both BJP and Congress were two sides of the same coin.Similarly, she dismissed another question that whether she took this decision because of the reported warming up of ties between SP and Congress, she said both were down and out in Uttar Pradesh.Mayawati said that she had given an open warning to the UPA in January this year that BSP would withdraw support if the Congress-led coalition "did not mend its ways" and change its step-motherly attitude towards the state government.The chief minister said though she had expected that the Congress would stop attacking her and her party for its own political interest, there was no change in the party's attitude.She said that when the Congress-led coalition replaced NDA, headed by BJP, at the Centre, she had expected that the government would ensure that she gets justice in the Taj Corridor and other related issues."But unfortunately Congress proved worse than BJP as instead of ensuring justice, Congress has kept the matter hanging during the last four years for its own political interest," she said.Mayawati alleged that when her party refused to enter into an electoral alliance with the BJP at the Centre prior to the previous Lok Sabha elections, the saffron party "falsely implicated" her in the Taj Corridor case to exert pressure.She also accused the previous NDA government of misusing the CBI and filing a disproportionate assets case against her to tarnish her and her party's image.