LUCKNOW: BSP chief Mayawati , on Sunday once again voiced concern about Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan’s infiltration into the political landscape as a saffron ploy to prop up a puppet to split Dalit votes and allow BJP to sail through. Recently, Chandrashekhar announced his intention to contest Lok Sabha elections from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi Despite Azad’s insistence that he’s against BJP and even swore allegiance to Mayawati, the Dalit czarina still views him with suspect.The BSP chief lashed out against him when he had called her “bua” last year and even publically distanced herself from him. “These small organisations for Dalits and OBCs have been formed to harm Ambedkar’s movement and the BSP electorally. Those parties opposed to BSP use these small outfits to their advantage from time to time. Our supporters should not waste their votes on them as they only serve to split Dalit and backward votes and benefit other parties,” Mayawati told supporters.Mayawati’s opposition to Chandrashekhar — who commands support of Dalits in west UP and emerged as an influential leader after 2017 riots in Saharanpur — has often been attributed to her insecurity in allowing another Dalit leader to gain popularity. Despite her public criticism of him, Chandrashekhar has said he will continue to support her.The alliance will be fielding an SP candidate in Varanasi, where Muslims also has a voter base. It will be a high profile contest with PM Modi contesting from this seat for a second time, having been challenged unsuccessfully by AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in 2014.

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