Lucknow, Oct 4 (IANS): The Bahujan Samaj Party now faces a threat to its Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh from BJP leader and former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya.

Maurya, who was recently appointed BJP national Vice President, will campaign in UP to woo Dalit voters.

BJP's SC Morcha Secretary Rahul Kumar said: "Progammes are being chalked out for the former Governor in an attempt to woo Dalits, especially Jatavs, who were the core vote base of BSP until 2019 Lok Sabha elections."

The party will organise programmes in Dalit-dominated constituencies to welcome Maurya, who also belongs to the Dalit community.

"We will begin our programme from Navratri and plan to create a buzz. Prominent BJP leaders will participate in these programmes and Baby Rani Maurya may even stay on in some districts to interact with the local leaders," Kumar said.

BJP General Secretary Priyanka Rawat, who is coordinating the campaign, said that this programme would continue in October and November and the biggest programmes would be organised in the main districts of party's six organisation regions - Lucknow (Avadh region), Varanasi (Kashi region), Gorakhpur (Gorakhpur region), Kanpur (Kanpur-Bundelkhand region), and Meerut and Saharanpur (West UP).

This is the first time that the BJP is specifically targeting Dalit votes, particularly Jatavs, who form the backbone of the BSP.