New Delhi, July 16 - The Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh came under fire from all major political parties Thursday after the arrest of state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi and the attack on her house by alleged Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers at night.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party have demanded the dismissal of the Mayawati-led BSP government in the state.

The Congress has described the episode as 'jungle raj' and 'state-sponsored terrorism'. It has also alleged that the incidents happened at the behest of Chief Minister Mayawati.

On Wednesday, shouting anti-Joshi and pro-Mayawati slogans, alleged BSP workers stormed the former's house in Lucknow and set it afire. Around the same time, Joshi was arrested in Ghaziabad en route to New Delhi.

She was charged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Mayawati. She was Thursday remanded in judicial custody in Moradabad.

The incidents have been denounced by political parties across the spectrum.

Maneka Gandhi, a BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, said here: 'The time has come for the Uttar Pradesh government to be dismissed. In every single constituency, people have been sent to jail for absolutely nothing.

'What did Rita Bahuguna Joshi say? She didn't say much and after that she even apologised. Why can't she speak her mind? What kind of democracy is this? President's Rule should be imposed in the state.'

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IANS: 'We don't justify what Rita Bahuguna Joshi had said and whatever was done by the BSP workers after that. It's a political move to woo Dalit votes.'

Speaking to the media at the main entrance of parliament house, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav - son of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav - demanded the dismissal of the Uttar Pradesh government.