Lucknow: A BJP Lok Sabha member has accused her party's leaders of "ridiculing and insulting" Dalits by carrying pre-cooked meals to their homes and eating there "in the name of breaking the caste barrier".

"Leaders are taking meals cooked in five-star hotels to the doors of the Scheduled Castes and eating there. They are ridiculing and insulting the Scheduled Castes," Savitri Bai Phoole told reporters in Bahraich, her constituency, on Friday.

She seemed to also imply that these BJP leaders were practising untouchability. "They hire caterers, rent utensils and deploy their own people to serve the meal. The Dalits are kept at bay," she said.

Phoole added: "The poor are insulted repeatedly by being reminded they are from the Scheduled Castes. I am an MP of this country but I am identified as a Scheduled Caste MP."

She suggested her party leaders should visit Dalit homes "without prior information and eat whatever has been cooked in their kitchen, even if it is just roti and salt or rice and dal".

Her comments come at a time Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked BJP politicians to spend time in Dalit localities and instil confidence in them about the BJP.

Phoole called it a sham, highlighting the government's failure to punish people who have desecrated statues of Babasaheb Ambedkar and attacked Dalits.

Asked about Phoole's allegations, state BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla avoided a direct reply.

"The idea is to identify localities with substantial Scheduled Caste populations that are still awaiting development. All the leaders are supposed to spend nights in those localities and mix with the people," he said.

"I suggest the Bahraich MP follow the (party) decision so that the poor can be empowered."

Phoole's comments back up claims by many Dalits that BJP leaders had "picnicked" outside their homes, eating food brought from hotels or cooked by caterers.

Rajnish Kumar, a Dalit from Lohgarh in Aligarh district, has alleged that state minister Suresh Rana had arrived at his home with more than 100 people at 11pm on Monday and told him they wanted to dine in front of the house.

"Everything was brought from a hotel. They ate matar-paneer, pulao, tandoori roti and gulab jamuns. They drank bottled water brought from outside," media reports quoted Kumar as saying.

Kumar said he was asked to sit in a corner and have his share of the food.

Rana, however, said it was Kumar who had requested him to eat at his home. "Some of the food was cooked by the family and some of it was brought from outside," he told reporters.

Phoole's fellow BJP parliamentarian, Udit Raj, had said on Thursday that the outreach programme would not bring the BJP any electoral gains but would make Dalits feel "inferior".

"Pretending through night stay and eating food... neither empowers the Dalit families nor benefits the politicians," he said.

"Rahul Gandhi (who started the trend a decade ago) is a live example.... It would be better if politicians come forward (to provide) food, clothes, houses, employment and treatment."

On Tuesday, Union minister Uma Bharti had skipped a scheduled meal with Dalits at an event in a Madhya Pradesh village, saying she was not Ram who would purify people by eating with them.

She later apologised, claiming she had not known she was supposed to eat at the event and pleading she needed to rush to an urgent appointment elsewhere. She, however, invited the Dalits to a meal at her home in Delhi.

It was Rahul who started the trend of politicians eating at Dalit homes about a decade ago. He also invited friends from India and abroad to spend nights in Dalit hamlets.

In 2009, Rahul and British politician David Miliband had met self-help groups in Amethi and both had spent the night at Dalit homes, prompting BJP accusations of "showcasing India's poverty to the world".

Sting in the tale

An Uttar Pradesh minister on Friday lauded BJP leaders for visiting Dalit homes and braving "mosquito bites the whole night", all for the sake of educating the community about government welfare schemes.

"Ministers have to face mosquito bites the whole night, still they visit the villages and feel happy about it," PTI quoted basic education minister Anupama Jaiswal as saying.

If a minister gets an opportunity to hold two chaupals (village meetings), he wants to organise four more, she added.