Shalinitai says UP results have vindicated her demand on reservation

Mumbai, May 18 (UNI) Expelled NCP legislator Shalinitai Patil today said the Uttar Pradesh assembly election results indicate that the demand for reservation for the economically backward people belonging to the upper castes is finding increasing favour.

Talking to reporters here today, Ms Patil, who has advocated such a demand, said even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani have upheld this thought.

Ms Patil claimed this demand will soon gain momentum in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, she said her outfit ''Kranti Sena'' will be converted into a political party on the eve of the 2009 assembly elections in Maharashtra. She claimed she had received support from Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and other organisations regarding her demand.

Ms Patil also welcomed the Supreme Court's observation on 27 per cent quota for the OBCs and its decision to refer the matter to a larger bench. She maintained that the creamy layer of the backward classes should not receive the benefits of reservations.

Ms Patil, widow of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vasantdada Patil, had joined the NCP in 1999 but was expelled from the party last year for her anti-reservation stand. She criticised NCP chief and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar for not taking proper decision on export of sugar. She said the sugar industry is facing a crisis and huge stocks of sugarcane will remain uncrushed.

Criticising Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who is also the Home Minister, she claimed many of her meetings were prevented by the Home Department. This person cannot catch a wanted person (Hasena Parkar) but always makes tall claims about maintaining law and order, she said referring to Mr Patil.

UNI