OBC leaders to meet on Sept 23 to explore ways to seek reservation in women's quota bill: Uma Bharti
Bhopal (PTI): Leaders from Other Backward Classes have agreed to a "big" meeting on Saturday to find ways to seek quota for OBCs in the just-cleared women's reservation bill, senior BJP leader Uma Bharti has said on X.
The former Madhya Pradesh CM, however, has not shared details about the time and venue of the meeting of the OBC leaders on September 23.
The bill to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women received the parliamentary nod on Thursday as the Rajya Sabha unanimously voted in its favour.
"Now, if a path is to be chalked out to raise the demand for another amendment for reservation for OBCs, a discussion (in that regard) was held with backward class leaders from in and around Bhopal. It was decided to call another big meeting on September 23," she wrote on X, sharing pictures of those who were part of the meeting at her Bhopal residence.
Last year, Bharti took to the streets in her party-ruled MP expressing her unhappiness against the opening of liquor shops near public places. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government later tweaked its excise policy to discourage drinking. It also closed all the 'hathas' (small bars attached to liquor shops) across the state in one go.
Recently Bharti expressed her displeasure after she was apparently not invited to the launch of the BJP's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' from Chitrakoot in Satna district on September 3.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
