The Union government's decision to include Jats in the central list of OBCs for nine states drew mixed reactions from political parties in the state as Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal welcomed the move which BJP, BSP and the ruling SP, however, termed a "pre-poll stunt".
Senior Congress leader Dr Mehrajuddin Ahmed said that the Centre's decision would be of great benefit for Muslim Jats and was sure to lead to an improvement in their overall condition. Ahmed thanked party president Sonia Gandhi and vice -president Rahul Gandhi for pushing the move through.
RLD general secretary Satyaveer Tyagi said that party chief Ajit Singh had played an important role in getting the Centre to fulfil the long-standing demand.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said that the reservation was crucial for Jats as they were a socially and economically backward community.
Meanwhile, although the party did not oppose the move, BJP state chief Dr Lakshmikant Vajpayee said that while the demand for reservation for Jats was not new, the Congress-led government at the Centre had agreed to it now only because Lok Sabha polls were round the corner.
Samajwadi Party leader and minister Shaheed Manzur said that it was the government's duty to extend reservations for the weaker sections and claimed that the timing of the move suggested that it had been done with a view to reaping electoral gains.
Bahujan Samaj Party MP Munquad Ali said that the decision to award reservation to Jats was an "election stunt".
The Union Cabinet yesterday approved the inclusion of the Jat community in the Central list of OBCs for the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the national capital territory of Delhi.
An approximate nine crore Jats live across the nine states.