Both Congress and BJP against quota in promotions bill: Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati Wednesday said both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party had "political motives" against reservations in job promotions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and had so far prevented the passage of a legislation in this regard.

A constitution amendment bill to amend Article 16(4) of the Constitution to remove the term "inadequate representation" to enable reservations in promotions and appointments was tabled in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday.

"Both the BJP, its allies, and the Congress and its allies are responsible for this bill not being passed (till now)," Mayawati said. "We had raised it in the budget session. The Congress deliberately delayed it because they did not want to upset anyone before the presidential elections," Mayawati said.

"The BJP's stand should be condemned. The controversy over coal block allocations is  important, but reservation in promotions is equally important. The BJP has its own political motive. They think that raising the coal block allocations issue will propel them to power in the next general elections," she said.

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, meanwhile, termed the bill seeking reservations in job promotions "unconstitutional". "This is unconstitutional. The bill was introduced and no one came to know about it. We will go to the people against this. This is a promotion to make a junior a senior and vice versa. They are making a mockery of the government. They have not spoken to us before introducing the bill," he said.

The union cabinet Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment bill to provide reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in job promotions.  The decision to bring a constitutional amendment to provide for reservations for SCs and STs in job promotions was taken at an all-party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Aug 21.

The BSP had raised the issue in parliament after the Supreme Court in April overruled the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to provide reservations in government job promotions.

The BSP, which had provided the reservation when it was in government, then demanded a constitutional amendment to provide for such quotas.