Mayawati had earlier justified the collection drive on her birthdays by declaring,'My party is not a party supported by industrial houses and affluent businessmen like the Congress and Samajwadi Party. Therefore it has been an established practice in our party to collect funds on both mine and the party founder Kanshi Ram's birthday.'

In order to build up the party kitty, Mayawati announced a hike in the membership fee from Rs.20 to Rs.40 and declared the launch of a special membership drive from Jan 1 to March 31 next year.

According to the party constitution, the membership fee is revised after gap of every five years.

The BSP boss also trained her guns at the Congress-led UPA government at the centre for the 'unprecedented rise in prices of essential commodities' and announced a nation wide dharna and street demonstrations 'to expose the anti-people and pro-capitalist policies of the union government'.