Bhopal, May 9 (IANS): Former Dalit woman IAS officer Shashi Karnawat, who had been put under suspension following her conviction in a corruption case in 2013, on Tuesday joined the Congress at party's Madhya Pradesh unit headquarters here. State Congress chief Kamal Nath was present on the occasion.

Karnawat's move came as a surprise to some in the political circles here, as her family has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since long and some tall Sangh leaders have been visiting them.

The former IAS officer, who was raised to the IAS cadre in 1999, has consistently claimed that she had been framed in the corruption case as she came from a Dalit community. In 2016, she had also announced that she would become a 'sanyasin', "to conquer the downfall, and to turn adversaries into victories, bothering into meditation and troubles into means to happiness".

Talking to IANS, Karnawat, said: "The state government has been harassing the Dalits and other communities availing reservation facilities since long. I became a victim of the anti-Dalit policies of the Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) government. While I had been fighting for my rights, the government always tried to stifle my voice."

She said that although she had been assured of justice, she never got it. "Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan always cheated me... In fact, it's not him who is running the state, it's some hand-picked officers who are running the show."

Citing reason for her joining the Congress, she said it was only this party that had executed schemes for the welfare of the Dalits and other weaker sections of the society.