After Modi's bastion, Priyanka Gandhi to step onto Mayawati's Dalit turf

  • | Tuesday | 19th March, 2019

Priyanka's visit to Bhim Army chief, who is seen as force rising to counter Mayawati's influence, further incensed the BSP chief. The party's newly appointed in charge for east UP has agreed to inaugurate three-day annual Bhim Nagari festival in Agra on April 15. She was reportedly so furious that she started contemplating fielding candidates against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in Amethi and Rae Bareli. On Monday, she snubbed Congress after UPCC chief Raj Babbar announced that his party would not contest against SP-BSP alliance on seven seats. The Bhim Nagri event has been earlier been attended by many leaders including Mayawati and former prime ministers, VP Singh, and HD Deve Gowda.

AGRA: After making her presence felt in PM Narendra Modi 's constituency Varanasi and surrounding districts in east UP with her boat trip , Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is all set to step on to BSP chief Mayawati 's dalit turf in the west on April 15. The party's newly appointed in charge for east UP has agreed to inaugurate three-day annual Bhim Nagari festival in Agra on April 15. The festival is held a day after Dr Ambedkar’s Birth Anniversary on April 14.The festival held in the memory of the Dalit icon is a brain child of the BSP chief and she was the chief guest at the festival in 2012. Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav would be in Taj City a day later to address a joint rally in favour of their candidates in the division. Confirming Priyanka's programme, UP congress vice-president Upendra Singh said that she had given a verbal assurance of her participation in the program. The official program would be released soon, he said.Interestingly, in the invitation letter addressed to Priyanka, the organisers of Bhim Nagari event have stated, “people of Agra want to see you winning in 2019 Lok Sabha polls”. The Bhim Nagri event has been earlier been attended by many leaders including Mayawati and former prime ministers, VP Singh, and HD Deve Gowda. The venue of this event has been shifted to Karhari, Shamshabad Road this year by the organisers, as they also want to pay tributes to martyr Kaushal Kumar Rawat, who was killed in Pulwama attack on February 14. He hailed from Shamshabad.The decision to accept the invite is being viewed in political circles as an attempt by Priyanka to win back the party’s traditional vote bank, which over the years has shifted and consolidated in favour of the BSP. Congress has been desperately trying to woo back Dalits. Priyanka’s recent trip to a Meerut hospital to see an ailing Bhim Army leader Chandrashekhar Azad was seen a step in that direction. Though Priyanka told reporters that her meeting with Azad had no political connotations, Congress leaders privately accepted that the party wanted to send a strong message to Mayawati, who has refused to accept the grand old party in the opposition alliance.A senior Congress leader said that Dalit voters were no longer the sole domain of the BSP and if the party (Cong) plays its cards right, they could win them back. With BSP contesting only 38 seats, a large number of aspirants have been left high and dry and are looking to jump fence, if promised tickets, Congress leaders say.Party leaders also point out that Congress had got more Dalit votes than the BSP in the recent assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. They are optimistic that in UP, too, they could shift to the Congress, the way they -- especially non-Jatavs -- gravitated to the BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Vidhan Sabha elections.Recently, several senior BSP leaders -- some of them former MPs -- have joined Congress. The party has already fielded some of them -- Kaisar Jahan in Sitapur and Brij Lal Khabri in Jalaun. Both had contested the 2014 elections on BSP ticket. Priyanka's visit to Bhim Army chief, who is seen as force rising to counter Mayawati's influence, further incensed the BSP chief. She was reportedly so furious that she started contemplating fielding candidates against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in Amethi and Rae Bareli. On Monday, she snubbed Congress after UPCC chief Raj Babbar announced that his party would not contest against SP-BSP alliance on seven seats.

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