If there were any doubts on BSP chief Mayawati reverting to the party’s hardcore Dalit agenda, she cleared them all on Thursday, announcing a Rs1,000-crore plan for development of Dalit-dominated villages.
“Thousands of villages in UP have been declared Ambedkar villages but development work is not being done there the way I want it,” a visibly-irate Mayawati told reporters. “No new Ambedkar villages will be selected this year... the government will concentrate on development works in the 2,000 Ambedkar villages (declared so) in the first phase,” she said.
Mayawati is worried about her Dalit votebank being dented by the Congress.
Already, Mayawati has named a retired scheduled caste (SC) IAS officer SR Lakha chairman of the UP Public Service Commission. Sources said she is now preparing to install a Dalit as information commissioner.
On Thursday, Mayawati announced that cement concrete roads would be built in the 2,000 Ambedkar villages in 2009-10. “This [Rs800-cr] work would start from a Dalit ‘basti’ in every village,” she said.
In a surprising move, Mayawati has started reservations in contract work, too. In government contracts, there would be a reservation of 21% for SC and 2% for ST contractors for jobs of up to Rs5 lakh.
