As BSP and Congress play the Dalit card on the birth anniversary of B R Ambedkar, the district authorities in Ambedkar Nagar on Wednesday told Rahul Gandhi that he could garland the Dalit icon's statue only after Mayawati's party function got over.
Congress Legislative Party leader Pramod Tewari said his party had sought written permission from the district administration for 39-year-old Rahul to garland Ambedkar's statue here.
"We had sought written permission but were denied the same," he said.
However, District Magistrate Kunwar Vikram Singh said, "We have not denied permission but we will allow the garlanding of the statue by Congress leaders only after the BSP's function ends here."
The BSP's function here is scheduled from 10 am to 4 pm while the Congress function is planned from 10 am to 2 pm.
Both the Congress and BSP are preparing to play their Dalit card on the 119th birth anniversary of Ambedkar and both the parties have organised functions at a short distance of each other in this district. The Ambedkar statue in question is in the middle of the two places.
Tight security arrangements have been made in the district with the AICC general secretary scheduled to flag off Chetna Yatra (awareness drive) to mark 125 years of party's establishment, and BSP planning to stage a demonstration against "wrong policies" of the UPA government and "short comings" in the Women Reservation bill.
On the directives of Mayawati, a battery of senior leaders, including state cabinet ministers, will stage a demonstration, they said.
Ambedkar Nagar, which has a sizeable Dalit population, holds significance for the BSP as it had been represented by Mayawati thrice in Lok Sabha in 1998, 1999 and 2004.
Meanwhile, Rahul, visiting the district for the second time, is scheduled to flag off 10 vehicles to cover all the 403 assembly constituencies in the state to form part of party's Chetna yatra, a senior party leader said, adding he will also address a rally.
To ensure the success of the programme, senior party leaders, including UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, are already camping in the area.
"The party has mobilised workers from adjoining districts, including Barabanki, Gonda, Faizabad, Azamgarh and Basti, for the function," party sources had said.
"Four companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been dispatched to the district from DGP headquarters," Additional Director General of Police Brij Lal had said yesterday, adding that IG Faizabad has been asked to arrange additional force.
The sources had said that two additional SPs, five deputy SPs, 40 sub-inspectors, 50 head constables and 150 constables from the adjoining districts would also be deployed. PTI
