New Delhi: Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan has accused BSP supremo Mayawati of making ticket distribution a “business” ahead of elections and said she was “never enamoured of Dalits but only with money”.

His comments came after senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya accused Mayawati of “auctioning” tickets for next year Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and quit the party saying he felt “suffocated”.

“The cost of the ticket rises close to elections. Mayawati was never enamoured of Dalits but only with money. She has always made this (ticket distribution) a business,” Paswan told reporters. He charged that this has been her “business to give tickets to those (candidates) who pay more money”. Paswan is a prominent Dalit leader and Union minister in the NDA government. Maurya, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the UP state Assembly, left BSP amid speculation that he might join the ruling Samajwadi Party and could be made a minister when Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav expands his Cabinet on June 27. Earlier in a press conference, Maurya said, “Tickets are being openly auctioned by Mayawati on a large scale. She is not making the right choice of candidates. Tickets are not only on sale in the party, they are being auctioned. — PTI