Ensure equitable distribution of quota, Cong. tells Rajnath

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 16. Keeping the focus on the coming Assembly polls in U.P. and the ongoing debate over reservation for Backward Classes, the Congress today favoured a Constitutional amendment for additional reservation beyond 48 per cent for economically disadvantaged sections of upper classes in the State.

Addressing a press conference here, the senior Congress leader and the Rajya Sabha MP, Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, said the party had demanded that the U.P. Chief Minister, Mr. Rajnath Singh, ensure equitable distribution of 21 per cent reservation for various sub-groups of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

He also demanded division of 27 per cent of reservation quota for Other Backward Classes into two categories - Backward and Most Backward. He said the Congress demanded inclusion of a separate percentage in the Most Backward category for backward Muslims in U.P.

While reiterating the party's commitment to social justice and economic and social upliftment of Backward Classes, Mr. Azad said that debate for improving legal and institutional instruments has acquired a new urgency.

Attacking the formulation of the BJP Government on the issue of reservation on the ground that it was based on ``doubtful population estimate'' and done with an eye on the Assembly polls, Mr. Azad said the Congress had always supported the view that the fruit of reservation should be justly and equitably distributed.

Waking up to the challenge of the coming Assembly elections in U.P., the senior Congress leader said the party has drawn up an ambitious programme of mobilising the support of the people by taking out six parivartan yatras across the State.

Mr. Azad said the yatras would begin on September 14 from Noida, Saharanpur, Lalitpur, Varanasi, Deoria and Ballia and culminate in Lucknow on October 4. He said the Congress president, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, would address a public meeting in Lucknow on October 4.

He said that a number of Congress Chief Ministers, Working Committee members and AICC functionaries would participate in the yatras during which nearly 850 public meetings would be addressed at block and district levels.

As the elections are likely to be held in U.P. early next year, Mr. Azad expressed the hope that Congress would be able to launch at least two more phases of yatras, public meetings and rallies across the State. He refrained from making any comment on the en masse resignation of Samajwadi Party MLAs from the U.P. Assembly in a bid to force early elections in the State.

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