Deccanherald

Lucknow, July 1 (PTI):With elections in Uttar Pradesh just a few months away, the ruling BJP has set the agenda for the polls by proposing a separate quota for the most Backwards and most Dalits in the existing quotas for Backwards and Dalits in the state. Aimed at making inroads into the vote bank of the major political adversaries, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the move is being regarded by political observers as the trump card of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh to arrest the erosion of the BJP vote bank and counter anti-incumbency factor in the coming polls.

To negate the adverse propaganda of SP and BSP, who have since gone on record terming the move a "political stunt" just before the assembly elections, the state government has already constituted a "social justice committee" to give shape to the proposal for quota within quota for the "have nots."The state government's seriousness in granting separate quota for the most Backwards and most Dalits can be gauged from the fact that three sittings of the committee would be held every day without breaks and the report would be submitted to the state government on August 15, chairman of the Committee and state's Parliamentary Affairs Minister Hukum Singh told PTI.