To ensure BJP's defeat, Jats voted for Cong but ditched BSP: Mayawati

NEW DELHI: BSP leader Mayawati on Wednesday rued that the Jat community in Haryana did not vote for her party in the assembly polls and felt there was a need to change their mindset about Dalits.

In the national capital to observe the death anniversary of party founder Kanshi Ram, she lamented that the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) did not bear fruits for her party.

Mayawati said in a bid to defeat the BJP and to keep it out of power, the Jat community in Haryana voted for the Congress but in the process ditched the BSP.

While the Dalit votes shifted to the INLD, the Jat votes did not come to her party.

"BSP candidates got only Dalit votes. Had we got even two to three per cent Jat votes, we would have managed a few seats," she told reporters.

She said while the mindset of the Jat community about Dalits has undergone a change in Uttar Pradesh, it is yet to happen in Haryana.

While the INLD won two seats in the state, the BSP drew a blank.

Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling BJP pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections.

While the BJP ended up with its best-ever haul of 48 seats, 11 more than the Congress, parties like the JJP and the AAP were decimated and the INLD managed to win just two seats. The AAP had contested on its own.

Referring to the assembly polls in Delhi expected in February next year, Mayawati hoped that her party would do well.

She said a triangular contest among the ruling AAP, and BJP and Congress will help the BSP do better.

She admitted that the BSP suffers losses in direct fights, apparently in states beyond Uttar Pradesh.

The former UP chief minister also said that the BSP would also contest polls in Maharashtra and Jharkhand likely next month.