Siddharth Nagar (UP): Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday announced that rape victims would be given government jobs if his party was voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

"The incidents of rape will be checked effectively and government jobs will be given to rape victims or one of their family members in the state," he told an election rally here.

Yadav said his party in the event of forming a government in the state would take stern action against the rapists.

Addressing a string of rallies in Bahraich, the SP supremo tried to woo voters from backward classes.

He said 17 castes, currently under the OBC category, would be given facilities on par with dalits by his party government.

The 17 castes include Nishad, Mallah, Kevat, Bind, Manjhi, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Chain, Kashyap and Kahar, he said.

Yadav also promised two sarees every year to a poor woman and a blanket to a man in the event of the SP coming to power in the state.

PTI