BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday said the Samajwadi Party was not in favour of reservations and called on people to “punish” the party for scrapping the quota in government job promotions in Uttar Pradesh.
Addressing an election rally here, Mayawati said the SP has always been against giving reservations to Dalits and tribals.
“SP’s previous Akhilesh Yadav government completely stopped reservation in promotions for government employees belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes category. Now, how he (Akhilesh) is saying that he is in favour of reservation?” the Bahujan Samaj Party chief said.
In 2012, the SP government had repealed a law on reservations in job promotions after a Supreme Court order upheld a high court verdict on the matter. In 2007, the previous BSP government had decided to implement quota for SCs/STs in recruitment as well as in promotions.
“Voting for a party that has been against giving reservations to Dalits and tribals from the very beginning, also means that you are not punishing such parties in accordance with the Indian Constitution. It is very important to punish them. You should not vote for their candidates in the elections,” she said.