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Mayawati favours quota for poor among upper castes

``If the Centre brings an amendment we will welcome it"

PHOTO: PTI

PROUD PARENTS: BSP supremo Mayawati with her parents after taking oath as the Chief Minister of U.P. at Raj Bhavan in Lucknow on Sunday. Governor T. V. Rajeswar and his wife are also seen.

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh's new Chief Minister Mayawati on Sunday strongly favoured reservation for economically weaker sections among the upper castes and religious minorities. At her first press conference after taking over as Chief Minister, she also gave a strong message to her opponents that the BSP government would not brook communal violence and withdraw security of ``criminal elements'' and came out in support of reservations for economically backward sections.

In keeping with her new social engineering she effected before the elections, Mayawati said she was for reservation for poor among the upper castes and the religious minorities in the interest of their uplift.

``If the Centre brings an amendment (to the law) providing for reservation for poor among the upper castes and the religious minorities we will welcome it. If not, then we will take our own measures to help these weaker sections in Uttar Pradesh,'' she said. Her top priority will be to establish an injustice-free, fear-free, crime-free, corruption-free and development oriented government, Mayawati said.

``Law and order will be established. The life and property of people belonging to all religions will be protected and nobody will be allowed to indulge in violence in the name of religion,'' she said.

Asked about her party's strategy on the upcoming Presidential elections, Mayawati said ``I will think over it.''

She said the backlog of reservation quota in state jobs would be filled up in the next few months.

Mayawati said her party was not in agreement with the unemployment doles given by the SP government. Instead, it would chalk out policies that would create jobs.

Development schemes

On development schemes, she said she has to find out how much the previous government has left in the exchequer and whether the state has been left in debt.

The Government would take measures to rake in resources to fund the development process.

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Mayawati favours quota for poor among upper castes

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