SP supports Gujjars' demand for ST status

Lucknow, June 4 (UNI) The principal Opposition Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh today supported the demand of the Gujjar community in Rajasthan for inclusion in the list of Schedule Tribe.

SP General Secretary and sibling of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, said here that the party supported the basic demand of Gujjars.

''The SP also demands a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those killed in Rajasthan violence,'' he added.

The decision to support the Gujjar community was taken at a meeting of former district and town unit presidents of SP chaired by Mr Mulayam Singh.

In reply to a poser, the SP General Secretary alleged that the Election Commission and the Central government used unfiar means to ensure the defeat of the SP in the just-concluded Assembly elections.

''Names of Muslims and backwards were deleated from the voters' list at the last movement...we could not do anything as the administration was virtually in control of the EC,''he charged.

UNI