Lucknow, June 03: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati today said that the decision to implement the original reservation policy and do away with the amended act of previous government was taken in public interest after consulting senior BJP leaders. Denying that the move was aimed at humiliating former chief minister Rajnath Singh, she told reporters that BJP did not oppose the decision taken at a recent cabinet meeting and senior leaders like Lalji Tandon and Om Prakash Singh supported it. The Rajnath Singh government had amended the UP services (SC/ST and OBC reservation) act 1994, to give separate reservation for the most backwards and most Dalits within the existing quota but it was challenged in the Supreme Court which stayed it pending disposal of the petition.
Mayawati said that since the stay order blocked appointments and promotions, senior BJP leader Om Prakash Singh approached her with the suggestion to implement the act in its original form.
The Chief Minister said she apprehended that Singh might feel hurt but Om Prakash Singh told her that the interest of Dalits and OBCs was more important than a person.

She claimed that another BJP leader and agriculture minister Hukum Singh, who was the chairman of the committee formed to ascertain the population of most backwards and most Dalits during the Rajnath Singh regime, also supported the decision.
Bureau Report