'Akhilesh Yadav erred in trusting Raja Bhaiya'

LUCKNOW: Even as BSP chief Mayawati said that her party candidate's defeat in

Rajya Sabha

elections would not impact tie-up with SP, she made a caustic remark saying that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had displayed political immaturity in trusting independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya.

Yadav had tweeted thanks to Raja Bhaiya on Friday while polling for 10 Rajya Sabha seats was in progress, indicating that the

Kunda MLA

would be supporting his party. Yadav was ultimately forced to delete the tweet on Saturday after Mayawati indicated that Raja Bhaiya had not voted for SP at all.

Raja Bhaiyya

had said on Friday that he continued to support SP, but that did not mean that he would vote for BSP. He then said that he would vote for SP candidate.

"If SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had not trusted Raja Bhaiya, whom BJP called 'Kunda ka Goonda' (goon of Kunda), he would not have been caught in his web of lies and deceit. Instead, he should have focused on not allowing BJP conspiracy of driving a wedge between SP and BSP to succeed."

"He should have sacrificed everything to ensure the win of BSP candidate. "Woh thodi chook kar gaye (He made a mistake here). If I were in his place, I would have given priority to their candidate over mine. He will gain experience over time and learn," she said.

While she did not directly accuse Raja Bhaiya of having voted for BJP, Mayawati thanked Congress and SP for voting for BSP candidate. SP had 45 votes of which its own candidate got 38 and seven went to BSP. Had Raja Bhaiya voted for SP as he had claimed, SP candidate would have got 39 votes.