Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati flayed the Samajwadi Party government for bringing a resolution through cabinet to give Scheduled Caste status to 17 sub-castes of Other Backward Classes.
“The move is just a poll gimmick by the SP and they had similar acts in 2005 before the Assembly polls,” she alleged flaying the CM for atemtping to deceive the poor.
In a statement released on Thursday, Mayawati said that her government in 2007 had sent a proposal to the Centre to shift 17 OBCs to the SC category to which the Centre did not respond. She added that in 2005, the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government too made a move to give benefits of SC to the 17 OBCs which was later turned down by High Court.
“The state government move, a few months ahead of the polls, is to divert the attention and get political mileage. Only the Centre has the authority to add or delete any caste in SC category and the state government has no role in it,” Mayawati clarified.
The BSP chief charged, “After having neglected all backward castes barring one in the last five years of its rule, the SP government is out to mislead them in the same way as was done by the then Mulayam Singh government.” she said.
On Thursday, a cabinet meeting chaired by CM Akhilesh Yadav cleared a proposal to include Kahar, Kashyap, Kewat, Nishad, Bind, Bhar, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Batham, Gaur, Tura, Majhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Godia, Dheemar and Machua sub-castes of OBCs into the SC category.