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Proposed ?BSP?-Cong rally under cloud
CLOUDS of uncertainty hover over the proposed joint rally of Congress and Bharatiya Samaj Party (BSP) in the State capital. The joint rally was scheduled for December 9 at Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow where, besides, other national leaders of the Congress, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was supposed to address the rally.
CLOUDS of uncertainty hover over the proposed joint rally of Congress and Bharatiya Samaj Party (BSP) in the State capital.
The joint rally was scheduled for December 9 at Ambedkar Maidan in Lucknow where, besides, other national leaders of the Congress, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi was supposed to address the rally.
“We had finalised December 9 for such a big rally where Mrs Gandhi could spring a surprise by making an announcement regarding granting of ST status to Rajbhars and other lesser known castes”, Om Prakash Rajbhar, national president of Bharatiya Samaj Party said.
He said since the UP Government-sponsored Lucknow Mahotsav also coincided with the rally date, the State Government has allotted Ambedkar Maidan to Mahotsav organisers.
“Madam is interested in Ambedkar Maidan only as she is of the opinion that addressing a rally from this venue sends a message across the State”, Rajbhar said, adding, “Sonia Gandhi turned down the offer of holding such a big rally either in Varanasi, Mau or Gorakhpur on the ground that a message could not be spread properly from these small towns.” He said former Principal Secretary PL Punia, who recently joined the Congress, has been assigned the task of finalising another date for holding such a joint rally in Lucknow.
Asked why there was a delay in granting ST status to Rajbhars, he claimed that the issue is almost finalised as Sonia Gandhi formed a group of Union ministers including Home Minister Shivraj Patil to look into the matter.
“Now we are hopeful that an announcement in this regard would be made any time after December 25 when Ambedkar Maidan is free and the a joint rally was held”, he further said, explaining that this Maidan is booked till December 25 with some exhibition scheduled after the Lucknow Mahotsav.
Congress and ‘BSP’, it is noteworthy to recall, have been organising joint rallies in different parts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh since the last few months.
The results in the just concluded civic polls, which signalled slight revival of Congress party, are reported to have forced the Congress to give a serious thought to the ‘BSP’ demand.
Rajbhar, it may be mentioned, claimed that his party’s role couldn’t be overlooked in Congress party’s performance.
