Akhilesh says BJP wants to scrap OBC reservation as UP moves SC against Allahabad HC order

The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh came under a fierce attack from the Samajwadi Party (SP), which accused the BJP of conspiring to scrap reservation for the OBC.

The attack came as the state government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging the order of the Allahabad High Court quashing the state government's draft notification on reservation for OBCs in the urban local body polls and ordered for holding the polls without OBC reservation.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav told reporters on Thursday that the saffron party would also scrap the reservations for the Dalits.

"BJP does not want to give reservation to the OBC and Dalits.....it only wants their votes but does not want to give them any right, though it formed governments at the Centre and in the state with their support," Akhilesh said.

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The SP leader alleged that the UP government had "changed" the results of the police recruitment examination in which around 1,700 OBC and Dalit youths had qualified to join the force. "The same happened to the recruitment of 69,000 teachers.....OBC and Dalit communities have been facing discrimination under the BJP regime," he added.

The UP government on Thursday approached the SC challenging the Allahabad HC's order quashing the draft notification of the state government on reservation for the OBC in the urban local body polls and also quashed the notification on appointment of administrators in those urban bodies whose tenure were scheduled to end shortly.

The court, in its order, had said that prima facie it appeared that the state government had not followed the triple-test formula in determining quota for the OBC as directed by the Supreme Court. The court had also directed the state government to hold the urban local body polls without the OBC quota.

The state government contended in its appeal before the SC that the HC had erred in quashing the notification and ordering to hold the polls without OBC reservation.