Haji Yaqoob Qureshi joins RLD ahead of UP polls

NEW DELHI: Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, who offered a Rs 51 crore bounty for the head of the Danish cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet, will be a prominent campainger for the Congress-RLD alliance in Western UP. Qureshi, a former MLA of the BSP, joined the RLD on Monday.

Qureshi shot into infamy in 2006 when he organised a rowdy protest against the Danish cartoonist in Meerut and promised to weigh the man beheading him in gold. He was a regular at the "anti-US" protests organised by the Socialists, Left and their fellow travellers.

Qureshi, who commands considerable clout in Meerut, was recently in news when he and his men allegedly slapped a police constable and tore off his uniform for asking the MLA to divert his cavalcade to a different route. But no case was filed against him as he belonged to the ruling side.

After welcoming Qureshi into the party, RLD chief and Union civil aviation minister Ajit Singh joined the race to woo Muslims, promising 8% reservation to the community in government jobs if voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Singh said Muslims accounted for 17-18% of the state's population and cited the Mandal Commission report to emphasise that almost half of the backward and minority population should get reservation in government jobs. "The Union government has announced the proposal for 4.5% reservation for backward Muslims in central government jobs... I believe Muslims in UP should get around 8% reservation," he said.

"Almost 70% Muslims in UP fall in the category of backward groups. We are waiting for caste-based census to decide the actual numbers. But the established formula, as per Mandal Commission, is to give reservation to half of the backward population, which for UP should be around 8%," Singh said.