Bhopal, Oct 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Madhya Pradesh High Court's decision on 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) has triggered a political confrontation between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress, with both parties blaming each other for the legal setback.
Leading the attack from the ruling BJP, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav questioned the basis of the ordinance introduced by the previous Congress government to increase OBC reservation from 14 per cent to 27 per cent. The Congress, meanwhile, accused the BJP government of failing to defend the quota in court and vowed to pursue the matter up to the Supreme Court.
Yadav questioned whether an ordinance could be issued on the basis of a letter, referring to the process adopted by the then Congress government in 2019.
The Chief Minister said the state government would examine the legal aspects of the High Court's decision before deciding its next course of action.
Madhya Pradesh BJP President Hemant Khandelwal blamed the Congress government for the legal setback, alleging that it had introduced the ordinance in haste for electoral gains ahead of the Lok Sabha elections without ensuring an adequate constitutional and legal foundation.
Referring to paragraph 215 of the High Court judgment, Khandelwal said the court had noted that the 2019 ordinance was passed without adequate preparation and in undue haste.
Khandelwal said that if Congress genuinely wanted to secure OBC rights, it should explain why it failed to ensure an adequate constitutional basis and effective legal provisions while framing the law.
He said the BJP government, led by CM Yadav, remained committed to the empowerment of OBCs and would examine all available legal options to pursue its commitment to 27 per cent reservation.
Congress state President Jitu Patwari accused the BJP of working to block the quota. It alleged that the ruling party had spent Rs 200 crore and engaged lawyers worth another Rs 200 crore in efforts to prevent its implementation.
Patwari said the BJP's "misdeeds, deceit, lies and betrayal" had been exposed and alleged that, for the past eight years, it had been looking for ways to block OBC reservation. He added that the Congress would fight for these rights up to the Supreme Court and, if voted to power in 2028, would fully restore the quota in accordance with its original intent.
Senior Congress leader Arun Yadav also accused the BJP government of failing to protect OBC interests by not presenting adequate data before the court in support of the 27 per cent quota.
Yadav said the BJP government had once again betrayed the rights of the OBC community and failed to present concrete and sufficient data in court in support of the 27 per cent reservation provided by the Congress. He added that another struggle would be needed to protect OBC rights.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz