In her third letter on the third consecutive day to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has now demanded reservation for the Jat community.
She has sought the inclusion of the Jat community in the central government's list of OBCs.
Mayawati's argument in support of her demand was that most of the Jat population in the state earned their living mainly from agriculture and related activities.
"Owing to decline in their agricultural land holdings, the financial condition of families have weakened. Moreover, they are educationally backward as well. Their children also lagged behind in the field of school education as a consequence of which they did not have proper representation in the central services either," she stated in her letter.
According to her, "It was keeping this in view that the UP government had included the Jat community in the list of OBCs way back in March, 2000."
To further stress her demand, she has cited the example of Rajasthan, where the Jat community was granted reservation in the OBC list way back in 1999.
"Since the state of Rajasthan was an adjoining state of Uttar Pradesh and the socio-economic condition of the Jat community in both states was similar, it was a solid basis to include UP's Jat community into the central government's list of OBCs," she said.
