No pro-Dalit bias in Maya scheme
CM Mayawati embarks upon a new plan for rural reconstruction in keeping with her election plank, reports Masoodul Hasan.
Chief Minister Mayawati has embarked upon a new plan for rural reconstruction in keeping with her election plank.
Giving up her earlier policy of preference for Dalit-dominated Ambedkar villages, she has now decided to shower attention upon "sarvajan" villages.
"The government would take up development work without discrimination," the chief minister said with an eye on widening her political constituency.
"We have chalked out a plan for rural development up to year 2011 with a focus on the gram sabhas. A new scheme for the urban development would also soon be launched," she said.
Mayawati was speaking to journalists after a Cabinet meeting in Lucknow on Thursday. Gram sabhas would be selected from "sarvajan" and not Dalit-dominated villages.
The chief minister said the Cabinet had approved the Dr Ambedkar Gramin Samagra Vikas Yojana under which five gram sabhas from each rural assembly constituency would be taken up for all-round development. Under the new plan, instead of selecting individual villages, the government would develop gram sabhas in the next five years.
SP tries to reach out to Brahmins
Meanwhile, a no-holds-barred battle is on between Chief Minister Mayawati and bete noir Mulayam Singh Yadav to keep Brahmins in good humour. In order to reach out to the community, Yadav on Thursday enlisted the support of the Sanatan Samaj Party (SSP).
Yadav told journalists that SSP president Dr Kripashankar Mishra had extended full support to SP to expose Mayawati's hypocrisy. Enjoying the continued support of Yadavs, Thakurs and Muslims, the former chief minister has been desperately trying to wean away Brahmins from the BSP fold.
