Lucknow: Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's 39th birthday was a cause of huge celebration for party workers in Uttar Pradesh (UP). For Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), it has been a day of out and out mourning.
But, in all this, there is something that both the Congress and the BSP did on Friday, reaching out, in their own way, to the Dalit community.
Breaking bread with Dalits Rahul Gandhi style was the task cut out for Congressmen across UP for their leader's birthday.
"Mayawati says eating, sleeping and drinking in a Dalit's house is drama. Mahatma Gandhi used to indulge in such dramatics. Mayawati's use of such language is shameful," said former UP chief minister Ram Naresh Yadav.
If the Congress took Rahul Gandhi's birthday inside Dalit localities, the BSP brought buses filled with Dalits for Mayawati's rally in Lucknow to make a show of strength.
At this rally, Dalits were seen holding the controversial BSP pamphlets that had branded the Mahatma anti-Dalit. But Mayawati denied that BSP's day of shame was timed to coincide with Rahul Gandhi's birthday.
Rahul Gandhi may have been in London, but the politics around his 39th birthday kept the excitement on in Uttar Pradesh.
The battle for the Dalit vote between the BSP and the Congress is only likely to intensify in the days to come.