Eying the Dalit vote bank in the coming assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee organised 'Dalit Swabhiman Yatra' in all 75 districts of the state on Tuesday, wherein party leaders and workers highlighted the growing number of atrocities and excesses on the weaker sections during the present Bharatiya Janata Party and previous non-Congress regimes.

Giving details of the 'Dalit Swabhiman Yatra' in Lucknow on Tuesday, Congress SC/ST cell chairman Alok Prasad said that August 3 marked the occasion when Congress honoured Dr BR Ambedkar, a champion of Dalit uplift, by inducting him into the cabinet of the Jawaharlal Nehru government at the Centre.

He said remembering this occasion, the UP Congress took out the ‘Dalit Swabhiman Yatra’ in all districts of the state to reach out to Dalit settlements and make them aware of the contribution of Congress in ensuring the rights to the community.

“The one-day Yatra was taken out in various districts of UP, including state capital Lucknow, and will culminated in a grander version of the ‘Dalit Swabhiman Yatra’ in the coming days. In Lucknow, the Yatra was taken out from Meena Bazaar in Indiranagar, Lavkushnagar, Ambedkar statue crossing etc and was led by Lucknow chief of Congress SC cell, Anurag Balmiki.

“The programme will serve as a tool for the Congress to express its solidarity with Dalits,” said Prasad, who led the Yatra in Maharajganj.

The Congress now plans to hold a Dalit Panchayat and the state party unit has already held conferences for Nishad, Maurya-Shakya, Kushwaha and Pal-Gaderia-Dhanger caste groups aiming the vote blocks.

Meanwhile, the Congress move to focus on castes blocs irked senior party leaders who feel that the Congress is simply following in the footsteps of regional parties.

“We slam other parties for playing the caste and communal cards but this is exactly what we are doing. Instead of focusing on burning issues, the Congress dispensation in UP is following the caste path which is detrimental to party interests,” said a former UPCC president.

Interestingly, the Congress state leadership has started criticising other non-BJP parties instead of focusing its attention on the ruling BJP. A senior leader said, “What exactly is the state Congress brass trying to do? We should be attacking the BJP but we are shooting down regional parties with whom we could have a post-poll alliance. While Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are trying to woo Brahmins who are disgruntled with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress has chosen to ignore Brahmins completely-even those within the party.

A political analyst said, “The problem with Congress is that it is completely directionless. They have no strategy and policy for the assembly elections and each one is pulling in a different