Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, April 14

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mr Kanshi Ram, and the Secretary General, Ms Mayawati, exhorted the Dalits to unite and get the "master key" of power so that their lot could be improved. They were addressing a party rally here to mark the 110th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar.

The BSP leaders said; although Baba Saheb had given the best Constitution but the successive regimes at the Centre and the state never wanted to uplift the Dalits, because they are governed by the "manuvadi" (status quoist) mindset.

Exhorting the Dalits to unite, he said, they had got a golden chance to come to power as elections were not far away. He assured them that he would take the struggle launched by Dr Ambedkar to its logical conclusion.

Ms Mayawati said, although Dr Ambedkar had ensured a respectable place for the Dalits in the Constitution yet it was not given to them by the successive rulers. "Power is the maserkey for getting our due," she added.

The BSP secretary general said the party would go it alone in Punjab and ensure that it comes to power.

Earlier Mr Kanshi Ram, Ms Mayawati and the state party leaders paid floral tributes to Dr Ambedkar. Others present on the occasion included the state vice-president of the party, Dr D.P. Khosla, the Secretary, Mr Gurdial Singh, and other senior leaders.

JALANDHAR: Almost all major political parties except the SAD (Badal) and the BJP organised rallies and conferences on the occasion of the anniversary of Dr B.R. Ambedkar here today.

The BSP organised a massive rally at the Ambedkar Chowk. The Bahujan Samaj Morcha (BSM) held the Scheduled Caste and Backward Class employees awareness conference at the local Red Cross Bhavan while the Congress leaders paid tributes to the Dalit leader by garlanding his statue at the Nakodar Chowk.

The Bahujan Samaj Morcha Chief and former MP from Phillaur, while addressing the party workers and employees at the conference said. "One should not sell his right of vote for a liquor bottle or for money since it will revoke their upliftment for years and the coming generation will not forgive them for favouring a wrong candidate in the elections".

He said the BSP had got detracted from the path shown by Dr Ambedkar and had become a party of leaders. "The BSP, which claims to be champion of the Dalits has failed to safeguard the interests of the community since it had joined hands with communal parties and are against the upliftment of the weaker sections of the society, in the past," he added.

The Congress leaders, including the Vice-President of the Punjab Congress, Mr Avtar Henry, the CLP leader, Mr Jagjit Singh, the President of the Punjab Youth Congress, Mr Davinder Singh Babbo and the General Secretary of the Punjab Congress, Mr Tajinder Singh Bittu, Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, former minister and hundreds of workers participated in a function.

Meanwhile, Dr Ambedkar Mission Society, Punjab, organised a colourful procession which started from Ambedkar Bhavan and moved through the Nakodar Chowk, Jyoti Chowk, PNB Chowk, Namdev Chowk, Circuit House, Guru Nanak Mission Chowk. Hundreds of followers of Taba Sahib and school kids participated in the function.

BSP's moratorium on electoral tie-ups

Tribune News Service

Patiala, April 14

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Kanshi Ram today announced that his party would not indulge in any electoral tie-up with any other political party in the country for the coming four years.

Addressing a largely attended gathering in the ground on the Rajpura road here to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar, Mr Kanshi Ram said he had announced this moratorium on the party as it had been observed that the party did not gain from any electoral tie-up in the recent past and that there was a neccessity to go it alone in future elections to consolidate the Dalit vote.

The BSP supremo said the past had shown that whenever the BSP entered into any electoral alliance with another political party, its votes were transferred to the other party, but the votes of the other party were not transferred to BSP candidates. This decision was being taken in party interest and that the party would single-handedly contest all the 117 seats in the forthcoming elections to the Punjab Assembly.