A showdown was witnessed between the ruling Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the UP Assembly on Thursday on the issue of inclusion of 17 OBC caste groups in the Scheduled Caste list.
The Bahujan Samaj Party members staged a walkout, accusing the Samajwadis of indulging in politics on the issue.
Trouble began when BJP MLA Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti wanted to know why the issue of including 17 OBC caste groups, including Nishad, Mallah, Kevta, Bind, Kashyap, Kahar, Bhar, Rajbhar, Prajapati, Kumhar, Bhar, Dhimar, Dhivar, Batham, Manjhi, Turha and Gaur, was being unduly delayed.
Minister for social welfare Avadesh Prasad informed the House that a sub committee headed by him had already been set up which would submit its report within two months, after which the state government would take up the matter with the Centre.
The BJP members said that since the Samajwadi Party was providing crucial support to the UPA government, it should exert pressure on the Centre and get the matter resolved at the earliest. Parliamentary affairs minister Mohammed Azam Khan said that as chief minister in 2003, Mr Mulayam Singh has already sent a resolution to the Centre saying that these caste groups should be included in the SC list but the BSP dragged the matter to court and a stay was obtained on it which led to the delay.
Enraged at the accusation, BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said that the state government knew that it was not empowered to include these caste groups into the SC list but was still forming sub-committee to mislead the members of these communities.
He accused the Samajwadi Party of playing politics for the sake of votes and alleged that the SP had got the matter so badly entangled that these caste groups were neither getting the OBC benefits and nor the SC benefits.
The BSP staged a walkout and the government requested the Speaker to set up an all party committee on the issue to which he agreed.