New Delhi: A day after Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi called for an end to reservation on caste lines, party president Sonia Gandhi snubbed him by saying that there should be no doubt or ambiguity” over the party’s stand of continuing the system of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs. The empowerment of SCs, STs and OBCs has been an article of faith with the Congress.
There should be no doubt or ambiguity on the stand of the Congress on the system of reservation for SC/ST and OBCs. They were introduced by Congress, they have been strengthened by the Congress and they will continue to be championed by the Congress, Gandhi said in a two-page statement.
Her statement was apparently aimed at damage control in the wake of Dwivedi’s remarks stirring up a political row with Opposition as well as UPA’s outside supporters SP and BSP condemning the AICC general secretary’s views projecting the same as Congress policy.
Seeking to make it clear that the party was not agreeable to Dwivedi’s proposal, Gandhi recalled that in the 2009 Lok Sabha manifesto, Congress had pledged to carve out reservations for economically weaker sections of all communities “without prejudice to existing reservation for SCs/STs and OBCs. A dialogue on this has already been initiated.
A senior Congress leader has given a statement on reservation; this can’t be an individual’s opinion, but the party’s stand. We strongly condemn it, she told reporters outside Parliament. LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, with whom Congress is inching closer to form an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, said Dwivedi’s remarks were against the spirit of the Constitution.
Bureau Report
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