Shivraj claims win, Congress says it will fight to increase OBC quota

OBC leaders say 14% reservation not enough for community constituting over 50% of Madhya Pradesh’s population

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision allowing reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections, although the BJP clearly appeared more upbeat.

Claiming credit for Wednesday’s decision, party workers celebrated at the BJP’s State headquarters in Bhopal, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan showing up on an unscheduled visit to address them.

The Congress, on the other hand, accused the State government of letting the OBC community down by failing to present the facts properly before the court, terming the 14% reservation for them as inadequate.

Mr. Chouhan, who himself hails from an OBC community and leads a Cabinet that includes nearly a dozen OBC Ministers, was on the offensive as he triumphantly targeted former Chief Minister and State Congress president Kamal Nath for “obstructing the elections and preventing OBCs from getting the benefits of reservations”.

“Congress does not want the welfare of any section of the society, including the OBCs. So when they announced a 27% reservation while in power, there was a stay. When the court put a stay, their advocate general did not appear in the court. They stand exposed. Kamal Nath will have to answer and he cannot hide,” he said triumphantly. Earlier, Mr. Chouhan had described the verdict as historical and overwhelming.

In a tweet in Hindi, Mr. Chouhan also said how his government had made every effort to ensure that such an order was issued: “For triple test, we constituted the OBC Commission. The OBC Commission toured the entire State, went from one village to another, conducted extensive surveys and made a report on the basis of those facts, we submitted that report to the Hon'ble Supreme Court.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Nath said that the verdict had vindicated the Congress’ stand and that the party would continue to push for 27% reservation for OBCs.