Supporting the medicos' agitation against reservation in central educational institutes, Ramdas Agarwal, a Rajya Sabha MP and former BJP treasurer, on Friday charged union HRD Minister Arjun Singh with playing "caste politics" and trying to be VP Singh who introduced Mandal I.
"Arjun Singh is playing a caste politics keeping in mind assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and it would cost Congress dearly" Agarwal told a press conference in Jaipur.
Since Parliament had passed the Reservation Bill by providing 27 per cent OBC quota, the UPA government should have first created extra seats in the institutes of higher learning and then implemented the decision systematically, Agarwal said.
"Arjun Singh is trying to gain political mileage", he said.
BJP always wanted to provide quota benefit to the people of weaker sections of the society regardless of any caste, he said, adding "why not economically backward Vaishya, Rajput and other castes be given this privilege?"
To a question about agitation against Jaipur airport expansion by local house owners, Agarwal said the Civil Aviation Minister had assured him that no one having authorised land ownership by the Jaipur Development Authority and Jaipur Municipal Corporation would be shifted and the expansion would be done as per public needs.
The central government had provided just Rs 43 crores under Rashtriay Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Yojna to Rajasthan and it would not be possible to hire labour without adequate central grant, which should be at least Rs.400 crores, he said in reply to a question whether RGRGY's funds were misused by the BJP government in the state for Jal Chetna Yatra.
{{/usCountry}}The central government had provided just Rs 43 crores under Rashtriay Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Yojna to Rajasthan and it would not be possible to hire labour without adequate central grant, which should be at least Rs.400 crores, he said in reply to a question whether RGRGY's funds were misused by the BJP government in the state for Jal Chetna Yatra.
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