Lucknow: After recommending dissolution of the state Assembly, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on August 25 announced severing of ties with coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying she had been "forced" to take this decision following the "non-co-operative attitude" of the BJP leadership.

Addressing the BSP national convention at the sprawling Ambedkar Maidan, she said though she had been taking care not to hurt the sentiments of the BJP leaders, they had been "betraying her time and again" as a result of which she had been forced to take a decision to snap ties with the saffron party.

Reading a hard-hitting letter sent to the Prime Minister, running into 30 pages, she lashed out at Union Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh saying his role had been that of an Opposition leader ever since she assumed power in the state.

Mayawati cited different occasions when she said the BJP leadership, including its MPs in Parliament, had not come to her aid and exposed her to Opposition attacks.

In a significant announcement, Mayawati said she was willing to "forgive" arch political rival Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in case he offered a public apology for the June 2, 1995 state guest house case.

"I can also forgive Congress if it apologises for the mistakes committed by its leaders against the Bahujan Samaj in the past and have a rethink of adjusting with the BJP if it expels Rajnath Singh who had been spewing venom against me," she said.

PTI