UP Polls: Cabinet clears minority quota

Ahead of the Election Commission (EC) announcing the schedule for assembly elections dates for Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Congress played its Muslim card as the union cabinet on Thursday night announced a 4.5 per cent sub-quota for the minorities under the 27 per cent quota reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The minority reservation will take effect from Jan 1, 2012.

With Muslims forming a major chunk of the vote bank (18.5 percent) in Uttar Pradesh, the political parties are in a battle to woo the community with promises and sops.

The Congress led by Rahul Gandhi and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led by present UP chief minister Mayawati are engaged in a fullscale war over Uttar Pradesh, a state the Gandhi scion is desperately trying to get back to the Congress fold.

Mayawati recently accused the Congress of doing nothing for the Muslims in its four decades of rule, and even said that the minorities are not safe under its regime.

The Muslim card of Congress can directly also hit Mulayam Singh Yadav´s Samajwadi Party which relies greatly on minority votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticized the move with some of its leaders calling it unconstitutional, dangerous for secularism and unpatriotic.

Reports suggest that EC will announce a more than five-phase election in UP whereas other states may go in for single phase polls.