LUCKNOW, March 5 -- The Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad witnessed a heated session on Tuesday as Samajwadi Party (SP) members staged a walkout, demanding a caste-based census in the state.

They accused the government of neglecting caste equations in the appointment of university vice-chancellors and alleged discrimination in the process.

Leader of the House and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, dismissed the allegations, claiming that SP members had no real concern for the interests of Dalits and backward classes. He remarked that their sole agenda was to recite the 'Akhilesh Chalisa'.

SP member Ashutosh Sinha, raising the issue through an adjournment motion, argued that the government's refusal to conduct a caste census has le...