After attacking the Bharatiya Janta Party for trying to abolish reservation for Dalits and Backwards, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati reiterated her demand of extending reservation to the poor upper caste and minorities after necessary amendments the Constitution.

In a statement issued in lucknow on Monday, Mayawati alleged that the BJP was working with anti-reservation ideology and that her party had demanded that amendments be made to the Constitution to provide reservation for the poor upper caste and minorities.

Terming BJP chief Amit Shah’s statement on reservation as `misguiding’, tyhe BSP chief said that Constitution has the provision of reservation for Dalit and tribals on the ground of education, social and economic status. She persisted that even upper caste and minority communities were reeling under poverty.

“Shah has tried to mislead people by saying that if the poor upper castes and minorities were given quota on financial status, it will eat into the share of Dalits and Backwards. There is a need for BJP and RSS to change their mentality especially on the issue of reservation and work in national interest. My party is against any change in the prevailing 50 per cent quota for Dalits and Backwards,” Mayawati said. 

“It is because of wrong policies adopted by successive Congress and BJP governments at the Centre that the financial condition of the poor among upper castes has deteriorated. There is a need to extend reservation to them separately based on their economic status and not on the basis of their caste or community,” she said.

“For this the reservation quota can be enhanced above 50 per cent by bringing a constitutional amendment without compromising with the quota of Dalits and Backwards and the BSP has been demanding it for long,” the BSP chief said.