Chandigarh, Mar 23 (PTI) Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Wednesday took on the Bhagwant Mann-led government in Punjab for its "failure" to give representation to the Dalit community in the nominations filed for the Rajya Sabha.

While on one hand, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed to follow footsteps of Baba Sahib Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, on the other it failed to field a person belonging to the Dalit community for the Rajya Sabha polls, Khaira in a statement.

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AAP had nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha, IIT-Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab.

Khaira said Bhagwant Mann's announcement of installing statues of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar and first Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha complex was a welcome step.

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However, the AAP government is required to walk the talk on the Dalit community, said the Bholath MLA.

"If AAP was serious to uplift the downtrodden and sincerely adhere to the ideology of Baba Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the same should reflect in its actions also," he said.

On Tuesday, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had criticised AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for his party's Rajya Sabha picks.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)