CM Adityanath didn't accept offer to give up charge of UP backward class welfare dept: Rajbhar

The leader of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is an ally of the ruling BJP in UP, had on Thursday said he was giving up the charge of the backward class welfare department, expressing disappointment that his recommendations on appointment of state backward castes panel members have been "ignored".

The minister had said he would, however, continue to be in charge of the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department.

"I had offered my resignation from the backward class welfare department but the same has not been accepted by the chief minister," Rajbhar told PTI.

He said, "I told the chief minister that when I do not have the right to keep people of my choice in the UP Backward welfare panel then what is the use of being a minister. The chief minister told me he would look into the matter."

Rajbhar, however, said that he was sticking to his stand of resigning from the backward class welfare department.

The SBSP had earlier threatened to part ways with the saffron party if the state government does not implement the social justice panel's recommendation to classify various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories and provide quota within quota to them.

The committee, constituted in May last year, had in its recommendations to the state government, favoured classification of various OBC and Dalit sub-castes into three broad categories, backward, very backward and most backward, and provide quota within quota to them.

Backward classes account for about 44 per cent of the electorate in the state and play a crucial role in making or marring political prospects of any party. The panel's recommendation to  is likely to spice up the political scene in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajbhar had also said that his party can go with the anti-BJP alliance of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP had bagged 312 out of 403 seats, while SBSP had won four seats. Another ally of the coalition, the Apna Dal (Sonelal), had won nine seats.