Meetings 200 metres apart will set tone for 2012 election in Uttar Pradesh.
The stage is set for a high-voltage showdown between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) at Ambedkar Nagar on Bhimrao Ambedkar’s 119th birth anniversary on Wednesday.
The two parties are conducting their programmes near the Ambedkar statue in this east UP district just 200 metres apart, and the dramatis personae on the two sides are Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi and BSP chief Mayawati.
The event has been mired in controversy since the beginning. Initially, the Congress raised a hue and cry over the Ambedkar Nagar district administration’s alleged refusal to grant it permission for the rally. Now, there is a tug-of-war between the two parties over garlanding Ambedkar’s statue near the venue.
“We had asked for permission much in advance… even Rahul’s programme sent to district officials mentions the garlanding. But we are still awaiting formal permission,” the party’s Faizabad MP and coordinator of the event, Nirmal Khatri, told reporters in Ambedkar Nagar.
However, BSP leader and Cabinet minister Lalji Verma denied the charges. “The Congress is trying to create a controversy… the BSP has been organising Babasaheb’s anniversary here every year, and we have already sought permission for garlanding the statue,” he said.
Though no one is willing to confirm it officially, BSP sources say Mayawati could land up in Ambedkar Nagar for the garlanding. Sources said party leaders have been told she could turn up at any of the district headquarters to take stock of the BSP’s agitation against the UPA regime on Wednesday.
For his part, Rahul has chosen a crucial date and venue to kickstart the party’s campaign for the UP assembly election of 2012. The event also coincides with the 125th year of the Congress Party. UP Congress spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi said Rahul would flag off 10 rath yatras which would go to all 403 Vidhan Sabha constituencies of UP.
State BSP chief Swami Prasad Maurya says the party agitation is meant to “expose” the Congress on issues relating to Dalits. “The Congress has only used Dalits as a votebank,” he quipped. The BSP would also be distributing lakhs of copies of a booklet carrying details of all Dalit welfare schemes launched in Ambedkar’s name in all four Mayawati regimes. The party would also tell the people how the women’s reservation bill would harm the interests of Dalits, backwards, minorities and poor upper castes.
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