Sushil Kumar Shinde (left) alleged that Mayawati was only using the name of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar to gain political mileage and was doing nothing for Dalits. HARDWAR: Union Minister for Energy and prominent Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde flayed BSP supremo for projecting herself as the next prime minister of the country on ground that she was a Dalit ki beti (daughter of a dalit).
"It is only a political stunt. Is she the only Dalit ki beti in the country?", he asked while interacting with mediapersons here.
He alleged that Mayawati was only using the name of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar to gain political mileage and was doing nothing for Dalits.
He said, ''In Uttar Pradesh, of which she is the chief minister, there is a backlog of thousands of vacancies in the government and the semi-government services and Mayawati, who calls herself a messiah of dalits, was doing nothing to fill up these vacancies.''
Stating that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar wanted dalits to contest from general constituencies to remove the barriers of caste, he said ''I myself always contest from general constituencies and not from the reserved ones. Why Mayawati does not contest from a general constituency to demonstrate that she is acceptable to all sections of society.'' he queried.
He further said the Congress led UPA government at the Centre had provided both political stability and economic stability to the country at a difficult time.
"We have also ensured communal harmony and there has been no major communal riot in the country during the last five years", he said.
Referring to the energy scenario in the country, Shinde said presently the country was generating 56,000 MW of electricity.
''In the 11th five year plan our target is to generate 92,000 MW of power to make the country self sufficient in energy requirements.
Within one year and a half, electricity will be available to every person on demand just like mobiles,'' he said.
Lambasting the BJP, Shinde said whenever there were elections the saffron party starts raking up the temple issue to exploit the religious sentiments and when the party came to power, it conveniently forgot its main agenda.