“The Home Ministry has a letter from the chief minister in which she had demanded SPG cover in the wake of threat to her life from six leading criminals. She has now fielded one of the six mafias as her party candidate for the next Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

Without naming anyone, he said if such people were fielded as BSP candidates then several more cases of involvement of politicians in criminal activities are in the offing.

Addressing the Dalit Sammelan organised by the District Congress unit on Sunday, Jaiswal held Mayawati responsible for the rise of criminals in politics.

“Despite being aware of his criminal background, BSP fielded Shekhar Tiwari as its candidate from Auraiya,” he said. He claimed that the alleged involvement of Tiwari in the murder of PWD engineer M K Gupta has exposed the tall claims of Mayawati in providing a “Bhaymukt samaj”.

Coming down hard on the BSP, Jaiswal maintained that the party has created barriers among the people of state. “It was not long back when Mayawati shouted slogans against Thakurs, Vaishyas and Bramhins, and now it has not taken her long to forget Dalits,” he said.

In her address to the public, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar also targeted Mayawati. “Whenever elections are round the corner, BSP leaders are heard singing the Dalit tune. But once polls are over neither the party chief nor other leaders are bothered about Dalits,” she said.

Kumar claimed that though BSP had been successful in returning to power in the state, but its ongoing tenure has been a complete failure. “Mafia turned politicians are calling the shots, whereas Dailts are lying ignored under the BSP government,” she added.