
BSP to discuss steps for OBC outreach today
The OBC Morcha was formed on March 25, when party national president Mayawati issued instructions to the cadre on how to reach out to OBCs in the state to bring them back to the party fold.
In the upcoming meeting, UP state president Vishwanath Pal and other senior functionaries will review the action taken on the instructions of the party president.
OBCs, along with Dalits, were once the vote base of the BSP. Many OBC leaders in the state, who now have their own political outfits, were once with the BSP, said sources in the party.
To win over OBCs, BSP has started putting functionaries from the backward castes in key roles at the district, sector, and booth-level organisation.
They have been instructed to reach out to OBCs in villages and towns and expose the anti-OBC agenda of the BJP, Congress, and Samajwadi Party.
They will also highlight the steps taken by BSP govts in UP for the welfare of OBCs, such as constituting a separate department for the welfare of backward classes in the state in 1995 and creating two new districts, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Nagar and Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar, in 1997.
Mayawati, in the March 25 meeting, asked the cadre to inform the OBCs about the welfare and development schemes initiated for them by the BSP, besides building of memorials, parks, and institutions to immortalise their icons.
"Village-level meetings have started and OBCs, along with Dalits, have been made in-charge at every assembly segment to hold these programmes regularly," a party functionary said.

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