If Manmohan can become PM through back door, why can't I, asks Maya

LUCKNOW: Launching a scathing attack on Congress president Sonia Gandhi for her comment `Aaj kal to har koi pradhan mantri banana chahta hai'(Everybody wants to become the PM these days), BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday said if Sonia could bring someone like Manmohan Singh through the ``back door'' to Parliament and make him PM, ``why can't a well-educated `Dalit ki beti' like me, who has won several elections and is CM of country's biggest state, become Prime Minister?''

Sonia in her recent election rallies while sarcastically commenting on prime ministerial aspirations of regional satraps surfacing during Lok Sabha polls, had said, ``The latest fashion in politics is that every one wants to become Prime Minister.''

While politicians whose names have cropped up for the coveted post so far have kept quiet, Mayawati hit back at Sonia in her characteristic style. Addressing a huge election rally in Agra, Mayawati said she qualifies ``more than anyone else'' for the post of PM and exhorted her supporters to vote in large number to ensure victory of BSP candidates.

Mayawati, who usually reads out a pre-written speech, spoke impromptu over Sonia's remarks and issue of prime ministership. ``Yeh Manmohan Singh aaj tak ek bhi chunav nahi lada hai... isse Sonia peechale darwaje se Rajya Sabha me chunva kar layi aur pradhan mantri bana diya. Agar Manmohan Singh pradhan mantri ban sakta hai, to phir padhilikhi Dalit ki beti kyun nahi (Manmohan Singh has not contest any public election... he was brought through back door in Rajya Sabha and made Prime Minister. If Manmmohan can become PM, why can't an educated Dalit women),'' she said amid thunderous applause by BSP supporters.

Mayawati also tried to evoke regional sentiments. ``If BJP can project L K Advani who comes from Gujarat as Prime Minister-in-waiting and Congress can present Manmohan Singh who belongs to Punjab as a candidate for the post, why can't UP think of making one of its candidates Prime Minister,'' she said.