UP reservation row: BSP chief Mayawati cautions backward classes against BJP, SP

LUCKNOW, (PTI): BSP president Mayawati on Thursday attacked BJP, Congress and Samajwadi Party on the issue of reservation and cautioned the people belonging to the OBC, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities against these ”double-faced” parties.

Soon after Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav asked the Uttar Pradesh government to convene a special session of the assembly to discuss the issue of reservation for OBCs in urban local body polls, the BSP chief tweeted in Hindi, ”The Congress government at the Centre did not allow the implementation of the Mandal Commission report on reservation for backward castes.”

”Along with this, SC/ST reservation was also made ineffective, and now BJP is also following the footsteps of Congress in this matter. Very worrying,” the former UP chief minister said.

In a series of tweets, she also attacked the Samajwadi Party, saying that ”the SP government also did not give full rights, especially to the most backwards. SC/ST reservation in promotion was abolished. The party tore apart the Bill related to this in Parliament and did not allow it to be passed. People of all these classes should be careful.”

Mayawati further said that ”now the SP and other parties are not going to get any benefit by making tall claims on reservation. All these communities should also be alert from these double-faced parties.”

Earlier in the day, Akhilesh Yadav termed the ruling BJP as anti-Dalit and anti-OBC, and called for discussion on the issue of reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the municipal elections by convening a special session of the assembly.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday appointed a five-member commission on reservation to the OBCs in urban local body elections, a day after the Allahabad High Court quashed its draft poll notification and ordered it to hold the polls without reservation for OBCs. (PTI)