Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Monday said the choice of Dalit MLA Charanjit Singh Channi as the new Chief Minister of Punjab for a short period was nothing but an “electoral gimmick” by the Congress.
It would have been better had the Congress earlier nominated Mr. Channi as the Chief Minister for a full term of five years, said Ms. Mayawati, herself a Dalit leader and currently an ally of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.
Reacting to a statement made by senior Congress leader Harish Rawat that the next election in Punjab would be contested under the leadership of Navjot Singh Sidhu, “a non-Dalit”, Ms. Mayawati said this showed that even now the Congress did not “fully trust” Dalits.
Ms. Mayawati said the Congress and other parties remembered Dalits only during times of “ musibat ” or “ majboori ” (trouble or helplessness).