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Mulayam gives Kalyan the cold shoulder

Former defence minister and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav demanded 54 per cent reservations for the other backward classes in government jobs, education and the judiciary.

Addressing a state-level convention of the OBCs at the historical Begum Hazrat Mahal park in Lucknow, Yadav said Muslims should also be given reservation in proportion to their population, with another 10 per cent for high castes . He declared that his party was launching a political agitation for getting his demand conceded, saying he was '' compelled '' to do so as there were ''attempts to dilute the reservation benefit ''given to the OBCs on the basis of the Mandal Commission report.

He said the OBCs at present enjoy only 27 per cent reservations while their population in the state stood at 54 per cent. There were only 55 castes in the OBCs list when reservations for them in government jobs on the basis of the Mandal Commission report was implemented but now the list contains 102 castes and the proposal for including 175 more castes in it is pending before the government, he said. This would leave only five castes -- Brahmins, Thakurs, Banias, Kayasthas and Bhumihars -- out of the reservation net.

To press for his demand, he said, an OBC rally would be held in Delhi by next March.

Yadav did not utter a single word in the convention about former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh who has floated a new party following his expulsion from the BJP. But he said there were certain leaders from among the backward castes who were not coming forward for the unity of the OBCs due to their personal interests.

Earlier, Sakshi Maharai, former MP from Farrukhabad and an OBC leader considered close to Kalyan Singh, announced that he will remain in the SP which he had joined after the last Lok Sabha elections.

Sakshi Maharaj claimed that he had no role in the demolition of the disputed structure in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 as alleged by the Congress and others. He promised to abandon his saffron attire if anybody proved he was within 50 metres of the disputed structure on that day.

UNI

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