Congress demands reservation for upper caste poor

The Congress has demanded 15 to 20 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society among the upper castes in the country.

This, they say, should be over and above the current 50 per cent reservation for the OBCs, SCs and STs.

“There should be no dilution of the present quota system of 49 per cent for SC, ST and OBCs. We demand that the Narendra Modi government give additional 15-20 per cent reservation for EWS among other castes,” said AICC general-secretary and Gujarat in-charge Gurdas Kamat.

“Today, we are putting forward this demand before the BJP government and if it fails to fulfill it, we will carry out a nationwide stir,” he added.

Kamat went on to say that the demand had support of party president Sonia Gandhi. “We want to assure the nation that it will be the commitment of the Congress government to implement this. Our party president has already raised the demand for some kind of intervention for EWS in her last Parliamentary election speeches,” said Kamat.

On being asked of the Supreme Court cap on reservations, Kamat said that it is incumbent on the existing government to form policies and convince the Supreme Court.

“We also know that the apex court has put a cap but it is the responsibility of the Central government to convince the top court…They should either do it by bringing in a law or they should convince the Supreme Court,” he said.