Sitarganj (Uttarakhand), Feb 5 (IANS): Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday accused the central government of trying to do away with reservation for Dalits.

"The BJP-led government is trying to end the quotas for Dalits, it is trying to end reservation," Mayawati told an election rally here.

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, Mayawati said: "The Dalits and tribals are treated as vote bank by these two parties."

The BSP leader raked up the issues of Hyderabad University's Dalit student Rohit Vemula who had committed suicide as  well as atrocities on Dalits in Una in Gujarat.

"The BJP and the Congress are the same within. That's why Dalits and tribals of Uttarakhand are not getting job promotions."

The former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh appealed to the Dalits and backwards to vote for the BSP in the 70-member Uttarakhand assembly election of February 15.

"Uttarakhand people need to remove the BJP and the Congress and bring the BSP to power to herald a change," Mayawati said.

She blamed the "wrong policies" of the central government for price rise and rising poverty.

"The Modi government is a government of corporates. And its wrong policies have failed to control inflation and poverty."