Shivpuri (MP): Lok Janshakti Party Chief Ram Vilas Paswan today assured support to the Gujjars demanding Scheduled Tribe status and said he would take up the issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

"We are supporting them (Gujjars). The party will also demand the status for them. I have have asked for time to meet the Prime Minster and also Soniaji on this. A delegation will be sent to review the situation," Paswan told PTI.

A delegation of the Gujjar Samaj had met him and he had assured his support to them. LJP had also staged a demonstration in the capital, he said.

The Dalit leader, who would be holding a political rally in Bhilwada tomorrow to attract voters in the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan, blamed the state government for the ongoing stir.

"The Raje government had made a pre-poll announcement to give the community the ST status, now the government should stick to it," he said.

He also flayed the state government for its failure to control the situation.

"Instead of sticking to its promise, the government was using violent means. How can the entire community be termed criminal? Such ways will not help solve things, this will in fact provoke them," he said.

Source : PTI