-- Photo: Subir Roy

ALL SMILES: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav taking out lottery of Haj pilgrims in Lucknow on Wednesday.

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on Wednesday said that the central government should increase the quota of Haj pilgrims from the State.

Addressing a function to mark the draw of lottery of pilgrims from UP, the Chief Minister assailed the political forces and vested interests for creating an atmosphere of hate and mistrust. Mr Yadav said the consequences are borne by the State Government.

The Chief Minister assured the gathering that he will ask the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase UP's share of pilgrims for the annual pilgrimage.

Urban Development Minister and Chairman of UP Haj Committee, Mohd Azam Khan , asked the Chief Minister to personally take up the matter with the Prime Minister so that all the applicants for Haj could undertake the pilgrimage.

Without naming the newly-formed UPUDF and Syed Ahmed Bukhari , Mr Khan said those who were once with the Bharatiya Janata Party , wanted to emerge as the leader of Muslims. The Haj Committee chairman derided the new political formation and said after four months their leaders will seek tickets of other political parties.

Mr Khan also attacked the UPA government and the Congress for trying to destabilise the Mulayam government. He claimed that the Congress will fare poorly in next year's Assembly elections.

This year, 21,800 pilgrims from UP will perform the annual pilgrimage. Till late last night the Haj Committee received 28725 applications. Since the annual quota is fixed by the Government of India, only 21,800 persons will go on the pilgrimage. The state government is wanting that the quota should be increased so that those applicants left out in the lottery may also get the opportunity.

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