'If voted to power, SP will hold caste census within three months'

Mainpuri (UP): Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday promised a caste census within three months if his Samajwadi Party is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh, giving people their rights according to their share in the population.

Addressing a rally during the 'Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra' here, the SP leader again slammed the ruling party of misusing the enforcement agencies, calling them BJP cells.

He attacked Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for being good only for changing names of cities and inaugurating the already inaugurated projects.

We and you are accused of snatching someone's rights but everything will be clear from the caste census, he said at the rally in the SP stronghold.

After the formation of the SP government, caste census will be conducted within three months and everyone will be given rights and respect according to their population, he said. People know that we have fulfilled all promises we made," he said.

Some parties believe that a caste census would lead to an increase in the quote for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in government jobs and educational institutions.

Weeks back, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also led a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.

Akhilesh Yadav also alluded to the recent Income Tax searches at the premises of some SP leaders, and predicted increased activity by agencies such as IT and the Enforcement Directorate as the assembly elections due early next year approach. Referring to the poll alliance with his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), he said, "As soon as we took his party along, BJP's IT cell, CBI cell and ED cell became active from Delhi.