Continuing her tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Saturday accused him and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to rake up non-issues to divert public attention from core issues that the government had failed to address in the last five years.  

“In order to divert public attention from its failure and to prevent poverty and unemployment from becoming real election issues, the BJP and its Prime Minister are trying to rake up all dead issues,” Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi. 

“This is most condemnable... people should remain cautious,” she added, while accusing the National Democratic Alliance government of misusing government machinery to silence the voices of opponents.

In another tweet, Mayawati alleged that the Prime Minister remained busy in laying foundation stones and spent `3,044 crore in publicity. 

“This government money could have been used for ensuing education and medicare in every village of a backward state like UP. But for the BJP, publicity is more important and not education and public welfare,” she added.

Meanwhile, Mayawati indicated to party leaders that she was not interested in fighting Lok Sabha election but wanted to focus on the party’s campaign across the country. 

The BSP chief would kick start her party’s national campaign from Odisha capital Bhubaneswar on April 2. 

In the 2014 general election, the BSP contested 503 Lok Sabha seats but won none with a countrywide vote share of 5 per cent.

Sources in the BSP said that recent development like appointment of Ritesh Pandey as party in-charge of Ambedkar Nagar, Girish Chandra Jatav of Nagina constituency and Haji Iqbal of Bijnor seat indicated that the BSP chief was least interested in fighting the Lok Sabha polls as these seats were identified as “safe” for her. 

Last Wednesday, Mayawati had said at a party meeting that leaders and workers had requested her to contest the election but she declined it saying that she was the party’s only star campaigner and it would not be possible for her to focus on a single constituency.