In an effort to make a dent in the Bahujan Samaj Party's Dalit vote bank ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Lok Janshakti Party plans to launch a series of demonstrations against the "anti-people and anti-Dalit" policies of the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh.
The LJP has alleged that Mayawati's "growing proximity" towards the Brahmins has "alienated" the Dalits in the state.
"To grab power, Mayawati has compromised the very principles on which Kanshi Ram had founded the BSP. She is trying to get closer to the upper caste," LJP state president Rakesh Chandra Pasi told PTI in Lucknow.
He said Mayawati's growing proximity towards the Brahmins had alienated the Dalits, who felt betrayed and cheated.
"Kanshi Ram had founded the BSP on the anti-upper caste plank, but Mayawati has undone everything," he said.
Pasi said that the "feeling of insecurity is again gripping the Dalits in Uttar Pradesh because of Mayawati's changed attitude."
"Mayawati's so called social engineering is set to boomerang on her in the next Lok Sabha elections," Pasi claimed.
The LJP leader pointed to the results of the recent Ballia Lok Sabha bypoll and claimed that neither the upper caste nor the Dalits supported BSP in the poll.
He said the LJP would launch demonstrations at all district headquarters in the state on February 5 to protest what he alleged "anti-people and anti-Dalit" policies of the BSP government.
The party will also launch a series of agitational programmes in the coming days, Pasi said.
Alleging that "atrocities on Dalits have risen sharply during Mayawati's regime," Pasi said the LJP national president Ram Vilas Paswan would be touring the state during the next few months to strengthen the party.
The LJP has embarked upon a membership drive in the state and it had been decided to complete formation of the booth committees by September 30 next, he said.
"We will be identifying the seats from where the party will be fielding its candidates in the next Lok Sabha polls and start our preparations in the next few weeks," Pasi said.
"The party will also finalise its prospective candidates well before the elections so that they have ample time to make necessary preparations," he said.
In reply to a question the LJP leader claimed that the Pasi community had already abandoned the BSP and returned to the LJP fold.