Lucknow:Eyeing votes of the upper castes in the next Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday promised to provide reservation to the poor among them if her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came to power at the national level. "The reservation on the basis of economic and other parameters will enable the upper caste community members to address their problems, especially those related to poverty and unemployment," she said.

Addressing a convention of upper castes here, Mayawati held the Congress party "most responsible for the sorry status" of these communities. Post-independence, the Congress has ruled the country and this state most of the time, but it never thought seriously of addressing the problems of upper castes, she said. Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of misguiding the upper castes, Mayawati said: "BJP projects itself as a custodian of upper caste rights. But during my three earlier stints (as chief minister) when BSP ruled with the support of BJP, the latter always pressurised us to drop the welfare schemes for the upper caste community members."

Mayawati called upon the upper castes to join hands with Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes "in order to get the key to the central and the state governments". "With this master key, all communities will be able to get rid of their problems themselves by involving themselves in policy-making," she said.

Source : IANS