New Delhi, May 26 -- Without explicitly naming anyone, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attributed the rise and strengthening of parties catering to the Dalit vote bank solely to the policies of the Congress itself.

Addressing a meeting of the party's Scheduled Castes Department at the Congress headquarters on Monday, Rahul Gandhi stated that had the Congress taken the appropriate measures for Dalits during the 1980s and 90s, neither would caste-based regional parties have emerged, nor would the Dalit community have gravitated toward them.

Signalling a shift, Rahul Gandhi further asserted that Dalits would now play a central role within the Congress party.

Sources present at the meeting revealed tha...