Maya presents another wish list to PM

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday presented one more wish list before the central government, including a law for job reservation in the private sector for weaker sections, as Congress president Sonia Gandhi consulted her on the vice presidential election.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a long list of demands working out to a Rs.800 billion central assistance package for her state.

The last time she visited New Delhi was when the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) had sought her party's support for its presidential candidate. She had then urged the central government to clear a proposal for an international airport in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh, which was granted.

The UPA needs her support for a victory of its candidate in the vice presidential election next month.

"This morning UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi talked with me on phone. She suggested one or two names. She also gave me their particulars. I will not tell you the names but after discussing the names in my party and considering these I will inform her," Mayawati told after meeting the prime minister.

She later said that Gandhi had suggested three names to her.

Mayawati denied any preference for a Dalit or a minority candidate. "Our party does not believe in caste or religion, though we do consider it necessary to prioritise the welfare of the Dalits, backwards, minorities and other weaker sections."

She urged Manmohan Singh to press ahead with a law to ensure reservation for weaker sections of society in the private and other non-government sectors and also to put such a law in the 9th schedule of the constitution, putting it outside the purview of judicial review.

She also sought inclusion of the poor among the upper caste in the reserved category.

She said, "I informed the prime minister of my government's commitment to end the goonda and mafia raj in the state and put it on the road to progress and development. But the reasons for Uttar Pradesh's backwardness lie in inadequate resources, poor health conditions, virtually no education and hardly any investment in industry."

To improve the situation, she requested a special package of Rs.141 billion to develop underdeveloped regions of Poorvanchal and Bundelkhand, apart from a 10-year tax holiday for setting up new industries in these areas.

Mayawati also asked for a Rs.220 billion package for agricultural development, Rs.65 billion for rural development, Rs.133 billion for various government projects and Rs.230 billion only for the upliftment of weaker sections including the Dalits, other backward classes (OBCs), the minorities and the poor upper caste.