Minister Suresh Rana did dine at a Dalit home in Aligarh, but brought his own food, mineral water and cutlery, according to the family.
ALIGARH: An Uttar Pradesh minister's outreach, featuring a meal with a Dalit family as part of a larger BJP campaign, appears to have backfired spectacularly with photos of a catered feast emerging online.
Minister Suresh Rana did dine at a Dalit home, but brought his own food, mineral water and cutlery, according to the family.
The feast was beyond anything the family would have imagined for dinner -- it included palak paneer, chhole, dal makhni, pulao, tandoori roti and gulab jamun, complete with salad and raita.
"'I didn't even know they are coming for dinner, they came suddenly. All food, water and cutlery they had arranged from outside," Rajnish Kumar, the Dalit man who "hosted" the minister, told news agency ANI. He was surprised to see the minister and his aides trooping into his house around 11 pm.
As the local administration went through elaborate lengths to make sure the minister's efforts were was a success, a double bed and coolers were arranged for the minister's stay at a community centre.
The minister has strongly denied slumming it in style and has claimed he ordered food only because there were many with him.