BSP chief Mayawati addresses a press conference in Lucknow, Sunday, April 10, 2022.
Highlights
- Akhilesh Yadav had suggested that the BJP could make Mayawati the next President
- The tenure of the current President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, is set to end in July
- The BJP-led NDA is in a comfortable position to get its candidate elected to the top post
BSP supremo Mayawati has junked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's remarks about her prospects of becoming President of India. The former Uttar Pradesh CM accused the SP leader of spreading rumours that she wanted to become the President, saying she has never aspired to hold the top post and that Akhilesh was dreaming about it to clear his path to become the Chief Minister.
Mayawati said that she aspires to become the Chief Minister again and even signalled that she would prefer to become the Prime Minister someday to realise her goals for the downtrodden.
"I can only dream of becoming the Chief Minister of UP and Prime Minister of the country in the days to come but can never dream of becoming the President," she said.
"I have not spent my life in comfort and have struggled to work on the path shown by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram to ensure that their followers and the downtrodden stand on their feet. All know that this work can be done not by becoming the president but by becoming the CM of UP and PM of the country," the BSP chief added.
"The reality is that the SP is dreaming of making me the president in order to clear the path (for Akhilesh Yadav) to become the CM of UP, which is not possible," Mayawati said.
Mayawati's remarks come a day after Akhilesh said in Mainpuri that the "BSP has transferred its votes to the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh polls. Now it will be interesting to see whether the BJP makes Mayawati President or not) in return".
The tenure of the current President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, is set to end in July this year.
The Opposition parties are planning to field a joint candidate to take on the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming presidential election. However, the NDA is in a comfortable position to get its candidate elected to the top constitutional post in the country.
The electoral college for the presidential election consists of elected MPs and MLAs from states. While an MP's vote has a value of 708, the vote value of MLAs differs from one state to another.
