'Bheem Jyoti Yatra' of Congress calls Mayawati's bluff: UPCC chief

Lucknow: Ahead of Ambedkar's anniversary later this week, Congress today accused BSP supremo Mayawati of 'hijacking' Dalit community in the name of icons and said the party has exposed it through 'Bheem Jyoti Yatra'.

On the conclusion of third and last leg of 'Bheem Jyoti Yatra', UP PCC chief Nirmal Khatri accused Mayawati of not following the path shown by two Dalit icons -- Ambedkar and Kanshiram -- but instead functioning in her own style.

He said Ambedkar and Kanshiram wanted to abolish caste system, but Mayawati strengthened it.

Khatri said BSP possibly was the first political party to constitute caste based committees.

He alleged that Mayawati misled Dalits, but Congress exposed her through 'Bheem Jyoti Yatra' undertaken in 55 districts, covering a distance of 10,000 km during which more than 1,000 corner meetings were organised to propagate the ideals of Dalit icons and remove BSP's misgivings from the minds of the people.

To a query, Khatri said Congress would go it solo in the 2017 UP Assembly elections.

"We will have no electoral understanding with either ruling Samajwadi Party or opposition BSP in the state," he said, adding both the parties were dancing to the tunes of BJP.

About possibility of coalition with RLD and JD(U), he said if there was any such possibility, then he was of the view that it should not be shared with the media.

On allocation of tickets, he said it would completed by June.