Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Sunday said her party will take concrete steps to make western Uttar Pradesh a separate state if voted to power at the Centre.

Addressing a rally here in support of the BSP's candidate from the Muzaffarnagar Lok Sabha seat Dara Singh Prajapati, Mayawati also said the BJP has a very slim chance of coming to power again.

"You want western Uttar Pradesh to become a separate state. For this, concrete steps will be taken if our government comes to power at the Centre," Mayawati told the gathering.

The BSP chief said if free and fair elections are held and voting machines are not tampered with, the BJP will not return to power this time.

"Most of the BJP's time was spent on making wealthy businessmen wealthier and protecting them... The BJP and other parties run their organisations and contest elections with the support of these businesses. This was revealed by electoral bond data," she added.

The former chief minister hit out at the BJP government for not recruiting people for vacant posts reserved for backward communities and making reservations in promotion redundant.

"In the last few years, with the BJP in power at the Centre and in most states, the progress of Muslims has stopped to a great extent. Violence in the name of religion has increased here," Mayawati said, adding that poor people of the general category have also not received any benefits under the BJP's rule.

Prajapati is pitted against Sanjeev Kumar Balyan of the BJP and Harendra Singh Malik of the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Before her rally here, Mayawati also addressed a public meeting in Saharanpur district.

The eight parliamentary constituencies of Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh will vote in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 19.

The counting of votes will be held on June 4.

The BS fought the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the SP and managed to secure victory on 10 seats.

The party has decided to go solo this time. The SP, Congress and the All India Trinamool Congress are contesting as part of the INDIA bloc and the BJP, Apna Dal (S), NISHAD party and the SBSP are part of the NDA alliance.

Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the highest for any state in the country. 

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