'Reservation for upper castes, minorities, return of Haridwar to UP'

Haridwar, Feb 18 (UNI) BSP supremo Mayawati today said that her party favoured the exclusion of the district from Uttarakhand and promised that if the party came to power at the Centre, the party would take steps to restore the district to Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing election rallies at Bhagwanpur, Landhora and Haridwar city in the district today, she said the Congress, the BJP and the Samajwadi Party had always ''betrayed the interests of the Bahujan Samaj.'' Flaying the policies followed by the ''Manuwadi'' parties, she said that only the BSP took care of the interests of the down-trodden and under-privileged.

''The BSP is the custodian of the interests of all the sections of society, including the minorities,'' she claimed, adding that her party favoured reservations for all sections of society on an economic basis.

She also said that her party, when in power, would launch a special drive to fill up the vacancies in the posts reserved for the SCs/STs and the OBCs.

Making a special bid to woo the Muslims, she said no other party in the state had given proper representation to the community while distributing tickets for the assembly elections.

''We have given seven tickets to the Muslims in the 70 seat assembly. This is the highest number of tickets given to them by any party, and is also in proportion to their population in the state,'' Ms Mayawati said.

She expressed confidence that this time the party would improve upon its tally of seven seats won in the last assembly elections.

''If you want justice for the Bahujan Samaj, you should ensure that no government is formed in the state without the support of the BSP,'' she appealed.

UNI