New Delhi, July 25 - Refuting the Congress' allegation that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was behind the July 15 attack on state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said Saturday that the incident was an 'immediate reaction by the public' against Joshi's 'offensive' remarks.

The BSP also alleged that the Congress leadership was trying to divert the attention from the real issue.

'So far the burning of the house is concerned, it was an immediate reaction by the public,' said Vijay Bahadur Singh, BSP's parliamentary party general secretary, shifting from the party's earlier position that the attack was 'a drama enacted at the behest of the Congress high command'.

The BSP's reaction came following Congress leader Digvijay Singh's repeated demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the incident.

Referring to the anti-Sikh riots following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, Vijay Bahadur Singh told IANS: 'Can they say the Congress party and Indira Gandhi are responsible for the violence in which scores of Sikhs were brutally killed?'

Joshi was arrested after being charged with denigrating Dalits and Mayawati in a speech July 14.