Union Minister of State and Apna Dal (Soneylal) chief Anupriya Patel has written a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath urging him to check posts reserved for OBCs and SC/STs becoming available to general category.
In the letter, Patel, whose party with a base among OBC Kurmis is an ally of the BJP, claimed a prevalent practice in interview-based recruitment examinations for these posts, of declaring candidates as “not found suitable”. This was leading to “aakrosh (anger)” among the candidates, she said.
In the letter dated June 27, Patel said that several OBC, SC and ST candidates had approached her with the complaint that in many state competitive examinations conducted in only interview-based recruitment process, they found themselves declared “not found suitable”. Eventually, no candidate from these categories was selected and, after this happened a couple of times, the reserved posts were declared un-reserved, Patel wrote.
Urging Adityanath to take “effective” steps to stop this practice, Patel said that candidates of those categories qualified for the interview only after clearing the minimum eligibility on their own capability, and hence repeatedly declaring them “not found suitable” and qualified was not understandable.
The Union MoS also urged that it be made mandatory that such reserved posts are filled only with candidates belonging to the categories concerned, even if the recruitment process has to be conducted many times.
Apna Dal (S) spokesperson Rajesh Srivastava told The Indian Express: “Anupriya ji is leader of the Dalits, deprived and Backward sections, and the party’s ideology is to ensure that these sections get their due rights provided as per the Constitutional system. Complaints were continuously coming from the candidates of these categories (OBCs, SCs and STs) that they were not getting due benefits of reservation in the recruitment process conducted by recruitment agencies. Through this letter, the party president has drawn attention of the UP government on this matter with a request to remove any kind of discrepancies– if there are at any level– and to ensure that the candidates get their rights.”
Patel’s letter to CM Adityanath comes days after the shocking setback to the BJP in UP in the recent Lok Sabha elections, with distress among youths over unemployment and apprehension among SCs/STs and OBCs over losing reservation benefits identified as one of the prime reasons of voter anger with the ruling party.
The Apna Dal (S) is part of the BJP-led governments both in the Centre and UP. Patel is Union MoS, Health and Family Welfare, and Chemicals and Fertilizers. She wrote the letter in the capacity of Apna Dal (S) national president.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
First uploaded on: 28-06-2024 at 21:26 IST
