Amid defections, Maya calls SP anti-Dalit party

Lucknow (UP): As several leaders from the BJP shifted their allegiance to the Samajwadi Party (SP) saying it worked for the Dalits and backward classes, BSP supremo Mayawati on Saturday pooh-poohed the claim saying the party’s past record shows its “anti- Dalit” approach.

Mayawati also clarified that she would not contest the Assembly elections, but take the legislative council route, if her party is voted to power.

Addressing a press conference on her birthday, she announced the names of 53 BSP candidates for constituencies that would go to the polls in the first phase on February 10. “The SP’s past record shows it always took an anti-Dalit approach,” Mayawati said.

She sought to know why the Akhilesh Yadav-led party renamed Sant Ravidas Nagar to Bhadohi soon after assuming power in 2012. “Wasn’t this due to its anti-Dalit thinking.”

Citing another example, she alleged that the SP had torn a bill introduced in view of ensuring promotion of Dalits in government services. “The bill remains pending... Doesn’t this reflect its anti-Dalit stand?” she said.

The BSP chief ’s remarks come a day after former cabinet minister and prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya joined the SP along with another rebel minister Dharam Singh Saini. —(PTI)