Mayawati terms Punjab CM Channi's appointment poll gimmick, says Congress doesn't trust Dalits

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati tore into the Congress on Monday for appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister of Punjab, saying the move to install a Dalit in the post just five months before the assembly polls was an "election gimmick" and that it showed the Congress was "daunted" by the Akali Dal-BSP alliance in the state.

"I have also learnt through the media that the upcoming polls will not be fought under his leadership but under the leadership of a non-Dalit, which also makes it clear that the Congress is still not trusting of the Dalits and reveals the double standards of the party which people of the Dalit caste there should be wary of," said Mayawati.

The BSP chief said after Independence, if Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party had somebody more capable than Bhimrao Ambedkar, they would have never included him in the drafting of the Constitution and the Dalits, backwards and tribals would have remained deprived of their constitutional rights that they enjoy today.


In the run-up to the UP assembly elections, Mayawati said if the BJP's focus on the other backward castes was sincere then both central and the UP and other state governments would have filled the backlog of government jobs reserved for them. Similarly, the BJP would have also agreed to the demands of OBCs of conducting a caste census, she said.