Govt. has highest respect for every caste: Harsimrat on Dayashankar Singh row

Accusing the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of attempting to gain political mileage over suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dayashankar Singh's derogatory slur on former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati, Union Food and Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal today said that the Centre has highest respect for every caste and community as they are an integral part of India.

Attempting to downplay the ongoing controversy post the remark against Mayawati, Harsimrat said that the BJP has shown its regret on the matter and sided with the BSP supremo.

"I think they are just trying to gain political mileage, but we regret any such thing and we have the highest respect for every caste and every community. It's unfortunate and everybody should refrain from these kinds of comments because every section of the society is a very integral part of India," Harsimrat said.

Expressing regret over this unfortunate incident, she said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is making all attempts to ensure the progress of the downtrodden section of the society.

"We are trying our level best to uplift that section of the society. It's unfortunate if somebody makes a comment and derails the whole thing and makes it political," she added.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Police today said that the suspended BJP state vice-president left for an 'unknown location' when the cops arrived at his residence to arrest him.

Balia Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Jha said that their efforts to locate and nab Singh would continue.

The BSP workers are staging protests across several cities of the nation over

Singh's derogatory remark and demanded his arrest.

The BJP yesterday expelled Dayashankar Singh from the party for six years.