BSP president Mayawati on Monday alleged that the recent controversy over Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya's remarks on the 'Ramcharitmanas' was aimed at benefitting his party and the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh electorally.

Maurya, a prominent OBC leader in Uttar Pradesh, kickstarted a controversy on January 22 when he alleged that certain verses in the 'Ramcharitmanas' -- a popular version of the Ramayana penned by Tulsidas -- "insult" a large section of society on the basis of caste as he demanded a ban on those passages in the text.