Bahujan Samaj Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Tuesday raised the issue of reservation and alleged that the Samajwadi Party does not want the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) category people to get the benefit of quota. Mayawati reiterated that if her party came to power at the Centre, western Uttar Pradesh would be made a separate state. Pointing out that Meerut had been demanding a High Court bench for a long time, she said that if voted to power, she would fulfil this demand. Addressing an election rally in support of party candidate Devvrat Kumar Tyagi at Alipur Maidan in Lohia Nagar area of Meerut, she targeted the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and also sought to put the Congress and SP in the dock over the issue of reservation. Mayawati said, The reservation given to Dalits and tribals in government jobs has not been completed for years. When the SP government was in power in UP, the reservation in promotion for SC/ST category government employees was completely abolished. The BSP chief warned the common voters about the SP, saying, Will the SC/ST employees waste their votes on such a party (SP) which is trying its best to do away with your reservation? The SP does not want the SC/ST people to get the benefit of reservation, she alleged. The former chief minister said: When the BSP brought an amendment bill in Rajya Sabha to make reservation effective in promotion, the SP MPs tore it. You tell yourself what good can such a party do for Dalits and the exploited? Targeting the BJP, Congress and its allies, she said all these political parties have meted out injustice to the poor. The BSP chief also alleged that attempts were being made to tamper with the Constitution. While reservation for Dalits and extremely backward classes has been tampered with, quota in promotions is not being given to government employees. The BJP government is snatching away the peoples rights to employment by giving them ration two times, Mayawati said. She also enumerated the work done by her government for the people of UP between 2007 and 2012. She alleged that Dalits and Muslims were being harassed not only in UP but in the entire country. She said if Dalits, Muslims, extremely backward and general category poor people gave the BSP an opportunity to form the government at the Centre, no one would be given the right to harass them. Mayawati also promised to form a separate state by combining the western region. She reminded the people that her government had passed a proposal and sent it to the Central government but the latter did not implement it. In 2011, the Mayawati government passed a resolution to divide Uttar Pradesh and make Purvanchal, western UP and Bundelkhand separate states. If our party comes to power at the Centre, western UP will be made a separate state, she reiterated. All unemployed, Dalits, Muslims, poor and youth will be given permanent employment — government jobs, she said. She also assured the sugarcane farmers of western UP that they would get fair prices for their produce. Mayawati further said that the Congress and BJP had cheated the public every time while releasing election manifesto, and it was the reason why BSP did not bring its manifesto in the election, because it believes in doing, and not in saying. Mayawati said that if there was no fault in the EVMs this time, the results would be better. She appealed to people to make the BSP candidate win from the Meerut Lok Sabha seat. On the occasion, BSP candidate Devvrat Tyagi, former minister Haji Yakub Qureshi,  and Hafiz Imran honoured Mayawati by presenting her a gold crown. Voting is scheduled to be held in Meerut on April 26 under the second phase. BJP candidate Arun Govil, SPs Sunita Verma, BSPs Devvrat Kumar Tyagi are in the poll fray from Meerut.

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