Mayawati never followed Baba Saheb Ambedkar: Shivpal Yadav

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav today claimed BSP supremo Mayawati never followed B R Ambedkar and would have also "expelled" him from her party had he been alive.

"Mayawati never followed Baba Saheb's ideology and never tried to implement it. She has cheated his followers and befooled them. Had he (Baba Saheb) been alive today, she would have also expelled him like she did with a number of close associates of BSP founder Kanshiram and leaders of the Dalit movement," the senior Uttar Pradesh minister said.

He was addressing a programme here to felicitate freedom fighter Pandit Ramkishan Sharma.

Yadav's sharp retort came barely days after the BSP supremo charged the ruling Samajwadi Party government with working against the principles of socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and said if Lohia was alive, he would have removed Mulayam Singh Yadav from the list of 'samajwadis' (socialists).

Addressing a press conference on her birthday on January 15, she had said, "While my birthday is being celebrated as Jan Kalyankari Diwas, during which the poor and needy are helped, Mulayam's birthday is being celebrated lavishly with public money, which is against Lohia's principles. Had Lohia been alive today, he would have removed Mulayam from the list of Samajwadis (socialists)."

Eyeing Dalit vote bank, SP state president and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had recently announced plan to build a memorial in the name of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar in the city.

"The CM has announced construction of Dr Ambedkar memorial in the state capital and he has also made separate provisions for develompent of Dalit and slum areas in cities," SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.

"But, the BSP supremo treats them (Dalits) only as vote bank," he added.