BSP demands special Parliament session for quota bill

Terming the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government as 'anti-Dalit', the Bahujan Samaj Party on Friday demanded that a special session of Parliament should be called in August to clear the Bill for reservation in promotions for Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe employees.

"We have requested the Centre to call a special session of Parliament this month to get this Bill cleared but before that the government should ensure that the House will function smoothly," BSP supremo Mayawati told reporters outside Parliament.

"Find a middle path on this coal scam so that there is peaceful atmosphere in the House and we are able to get the Bill cleared. We had talked about this to the Centre also but they have not accepted our request," she said.

The BSP had on Thursday sought an extension of the Monsoon Session by 10-12 days to get the Bill cleared.

Blaming the Congress for not getting the Bill cleared, the BSP leader said the government had listed the Bill for discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Friday but didn't take it up in the House.

"For the last two days, their minister stood up for discussion on this but today, he didn't even stand up. He was so terrified that he could not do so. This shows the anti-Dalit mindset of the Congress-led UPA," Mayawati said.

She said the Congress-led UPA was "mainly responsible" for getting the Bill deferred for another two-three months and this shows that it did not want the Bill to be cleared.

Asked if she would hold an agitation for getting the Bill cleared, the BSP chief said the media has already spread the awareness and need for the Bill to be cleared among the SC/STs across the country and there was no need to do so for her party.