Patna, Feb. 2: The JD(U) today took a dig at the Congress for promising 4.5 per cent reservation for the Muslim and the Most Backward Caste (MBC) population in its manifesto for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

“The Congress is trying to create a division within the Other Backward Caste (OBC) population by promising 4.5 per cent reservation for the Muslims and the MBCs within the 27 per cent quota for the OBCs. The Congress had never supported reservation and has suddenly come out with this new tactics to woo the minority voters,” JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari said.

“It (the Congress) is the same party that did not implement the Kaka Kelkar Commission report in 1953, which talked about giving reservation to the socially and educationally backward classes. If the panel’s recommendations were implemented then, there would have been no requirement of the Mandal Commission. The Congress was also against the Mandal Commission. Former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh had supported and implemented the reservation,” he added.

“If the Congress were at all interested in giving equal rights to the backward people, the party should have paid attention to the earlier commission. The Congress has never supported reservation. Today’s announcement (by the Congress) is a move not to protect the interests of those belonging to the OBC and MBC categories. It will create further division within society,” the JD(U) leader further said.

Tiwary said the fight for Uttar Pradesh would be within the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party. “I do not think that any other party can make any difference in UP,” he added.

Tiwari, however, refused to say anything on the number of seats that the JD(U) was contesting in UP. “Party president Sharad Yadav is the right person to say anything on this,” he said.