UNDERLINING THE need for a national debate on reservation and to evolve a mechanism through which the benefit of reservation reached the needy without adversely affecting meritorious students, Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Lalji Tandon on Thursday vehemently denied that the BJP ever pressurised or even asked Mulayam Singh Yadav to form government in the State.Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Tandon said that the need of the hour was to review reservation and to understand the real intentions of the architects of the Constitution behind reservation for the weaker sections of the society and to accordingly evolve a system acceptable to one and all. He said that compromise on quality could not be justified and meritorious students must not be ignored.
Reacting to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s reported statement that he reluctantly formed the government under pressure from the Congress, RLD and the BJP, Tandon strongly condemned the CM for ‘baseless allegations’ and claimed that the BJP did not urge, ask or pressurise Mulayam to form the government.He, however, said that HRD Minister Arjun Singh was being made a sacrificial goat for opening a Pandora’s box on reservation in centres of higher/ technical and medical education while the fact was that the decision was taken at the behest of Sonia Gandhi to divert attention from relevant issues.