JD(S) supports bill for 10 per cent quota for poor in general category: H.D Devegouda
Bengaluru, Jan 8: JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda extended support Tuesday to the Centre's move towards providing a 10-per cent quota in government jobs and education for the "economically weaker" sections.
"Janata Dal (Secular) supports the 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for economically weaker sections of the upper castes," he said in a tweet.
"We have always stood for, and will continue to stand for betterment of the underprivileged and weaker sections of the society," the veteran leader added.
The JD(S) has two Lok Sabha members from Karnataka, including Deve Gowda.
In a major move ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Union Cabinet on Monday cleared a 10 per cent quota in government jobs and education for "economically weaker" sections, meeting a key demand of the upper castes, a staunch support base of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has shown signs of a drift from the saffron party.
The Congress has dubbed the move as an "election gimmick". The JD(S) is in power in Karnataka in an alliance with the Congress.
The proposed reservation will be over and above the existing 50 per cent reservation enjoyed by the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, and will take the total reservation to 60 per cent.
The Narendra Modi government tabled a bill in this regard in Parliament on Tuesday, which for the first time aimed to provide for non-caste, non-religion-based reservation.
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Nitish did not project Samrat as new CM: Bihar minister
Patna (PTI): Bihar minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary rejected suggestions that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is expected to step down soon to enter the Rajya Sabha, has projected his deputy Samrat Choudhary as his successor.
Kumar had, during his tour of Jamui district on Wednesday as part of the Samriddhi Yatra, pointed towards Samrat Choudhary, a senior BJP leader, and remarked, "He shall be looking after Bihar and the state will make tremendous progress."
This led to speculation in a section of the media that Kumar, who heads the JD(U), was hinting that he wanted his deputy as the new CM.
However, when questions were posed to Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who is a senior JD(U) leader, he shot back, "I was very much present there. So, please do not come up with your interpretations before me."
The JD(U) leader, though, admitted that as a deputy CM, Samrat Choudhary has been sincerely working with the chief minister, who has been in the habit of encouraging all his cabinet colleagues by saying he or she will be looking after things.
"There is nothing new in that. You people (journalists) are imagining that it is some new signal," he said.
Chaudhary was interacting with journalists at the chief minister's residence late in the evening after the last Iftaar party the JD(U) president hosted in his present capacity.
He said, "Our chief minister has always cared about the minorities, and this is the reason he invites Muslims to his house every year during the holy month of Ramadan."
Asked whether the longest serving CM appeared emotional on the occasion, Chaudhary remarked cryptically, "Politics has its own dynamics. It is not guided by sentiments."
After Kumar gives up the seat of power, the new government is likely to be headed by the BJP, the single largest party in the assembly.
Sources close to the JD(U) president claim that his son Nishant, who was inducted into the party last week, was likely to be made the deputy CM in the new government.
