PROTEST: Dalit Sangharsh Samiti activists staging a `rasta roko' in Gulbarga on Tuesday.

Gulbarga: Dalit Sangharsh Samiti will organise taluk-wise agitations against Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa for his alleged attempt to remove the portrait of Ambedkar from his chamber, across the State from Wednesday.

The DSS State convenor D.G. Sagar and the Communist Party of India Marxist general secretary Maruti Manpade told presspersons here on Tuesday that they would not stop till Mr. Yediyurappa resigned from his post.

Within a few hours of swearing-in, the BJP has exposed its true character of being communal and anti-Dalit, Mr. Sagar alleged.

Later, DSS activists staged a "rasta roko" at the Rashtrapati Chowk in Gulbarga for over two hours. They submitted a memorandum addressed to Governor T.N. Chaturvedi to recall Mr. Yediyurappa.

Dr. Ambedkar was not a leader of Dalits alone. He was a visionary leader of the country, they said.

If Mr. Yediyurappa is the Deputy Chief Minister today, it is because of the Constitution that Dr. Ambedkar drafted.

Mr. Yediyurappa should realise this fact, they said in the memorandum.

Leaders, including B.V. Chakaravarthi and Mallikarun Pujari, led the agitation.

`Drop agitation'

Bidar Staff Correspondent reports:

Dalit leaders in the BJP have asked Dalit organisations to drop the agitation being carried out against Mr. Yediyurappa.

He has clarified that he had not removed the portrait. It had been done by the earlier occupant of the chamber, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, while vacating it. Therefore, no insult has been caused to Dr. Ambedkar, they said.

Dalit organisations should realise this and take a mature stand, MLA and BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha State President Rajendra Verma said.

BJP district Slum Morcha President Shamanna Bavuge also asked DSS and other organisations to stop the agitation.