With an eye on the formidable Dalit vote bank, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia met Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan at a hospital in Meerut where the Dalit leader was admitted a day earlier.
The two top Congress leaders’ visit holds political significance as Chandrashekhar has managed a hold over the Dalit votes, particularly in western Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, the Dalit leader challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announced that if the opposition did not field any strong candidate against Modi and his Cabinet colleague Smriti Irani, he would field his own contestants to defeat the two.
Speaking to media persons after visiting Chandrashekhar, Priyanka Vadra and Scindia said that the Central and state governments had failed to provide employment to youths and if anyone dared to come on road to expose the failure, the Bharatiya Janata Party governments got the person arrested and put him or her in jail.
The Congress leaders accused the government of misusing official machinery to suppress the voice of opponents.
On Tuesday, the Bhim Army chief was taken into police custody for taking out a procession on cars and motorcycles without permission, thereby violating the model code of conduct in Deoband.
Chandrashekhar later took ill after which the authorities shifted him to a hospital in Meerut.
