Addressing the state-level conference of the Brahmin Samaj Bhaichara at her party office in Lucknow, the CM said it would not be possible to hold such caste-based programmes after the announcement of poll dates.

She also asked BSP’s national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, who is the party’s Brahmin face, to undertake tour across the state and make people aware about the BSP’s policies.

The party had also invited its Lok Sabha candidates to participate in Sunday’s conference.

Giving a pep talk about the success of her party’s “social engineering theory” in the last Assembly elections, she said it was the same combination of Dalit-Brahmins that had enabled the Congress party to rule in the country for such a long period.

“Congress ruled at the Centre for 48 years after Independence. Brahmins and Dalits were the main base of the party. You got separated and this led to the age of coalition government. No government could get absolute majority to rule the country,” she said.

She told them that the Opposition parties in the state, like the Congress and the BJP, always tried to keep both the Brahmins and Dalits separated from each other. “They not only ignored you people but also stopped you from getting united by sowing hatred in Dalits for the Brahmins,” she said, referring to a similar divide-and-rule policy of the British.

“The Brahmin Samaj is the first to get associated with the BSP. Rest of the upper-caste members also felt it is the BSP that can take care of their interest and they also got associated. This sent the Opposition parties into a tizzy,” she added.