Dalit for PM clamour gets louder; Cong leader demands

New Delhi, Oct 17: After Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister made a jibe at the Congress by saying that the Congress could make either Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as Prime Minister to split the dalit vote ahead of the UP polls, similar views were expressed by senior party leader Anil Shastri. He made the comments through the popular microblogging site Twitter.

With caste politics rearing its head once again, Shastri said, "Congress has made 4 CMs in different states in past. Day is not far when it will give a dalit PM, not for votes but for dalit empowerment." He stated that the day will not be far when a Dalit will be named PM by the Cong.

In the midst of the pro-Dalit rhetoric doing the rounds, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh, who is also the in-charge of party affairs in UP said that Manmohan Singh will remain the PM canidate for the Cong.

Shastri also said in another tweet, "Mayawati can't be the only dalit aspiring to be PM. There are many more qualified and capable leaders in the Congress."

Bringing more hurt for the government, the Cong leader said that there was a concerted effort from people within the government to dilute the controversial RTI Act. He said, "There seems to be a concerted effort by people in govt to dilute and weaken the RTI which should be resisted by all right thinking people."

OneIndia News