Summary:
Patna, Oct 17 (PTI) The ruling "Mahagathbandhan" (grand alliance) in Bihar and the opposition BJP on Monday continued to spar over the issue of reservations in urban local body polls, which have been in limbo following a recent court order that held the state"s quota system as illegal.
The BJP, which has been stripped of power following Chief Minister Nitish Kumar"s exit from the NDA, staged demonstrations across the state on the theme ‘Aarakshan Bachao, Nagar Nikay Chunav Karao’ (restore reservations, hold urban local body polls).
The programme was conceptualised last week in response to a similar agitation by Kumar"s JD(U) which was titled "pol khol" (expose) and had sought to blame the stalemate on a “conspiracy” by its former ally.
“The BJP can never compromise on the issue of the welfare of the weaker sections of the society.
It was the Narendra Modi government that got Ram Nath Kovind and Droupadi Murmu, a Dalit and a tribal respectively, to the highest constitutional post of the President", said former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who addressed party workers at the state headquarters here.
However, the JD(U) and its main current ally, the RJD, came out with statements slamming the BJP for shedding “crocodile tears” on the reservation and alleged that hostility towards backward classes was in the “DNA” of the political offshoot of the RSS.
“BJP is shedding crocodile tears.
Things have come to this pass because of its obstinacy on the issue of caste census.
The one problem faced by all state governments defending reservations in a court is the absence of fresh data”, JD(U) parliamentary board president Upendra Kushwaha told reporters in Kaimur district.
He also expressed dismay over the Patna High Court coming out with its “adverse” judgement on October 4, less than a week before the first phase of urban local body polls was scheduled on October 10.
“Courts have been known to work till late in the night in extraordinary situations.
The order, which has affected all those who had spent their resources on campaigning, should have been passed 15-20 days earlier.
This could have left some scope for a course of action other than deferment of polls”, said Kushwaha.
He reiterated that the state government will contest the High Court order before the Apex Court and fresh polls will be held “only after reservations are restored”.
RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav also issued a statement attacking the BJP for having “embarked on Kamandal to thwart Mandal” in the 1990s and declared “the BJP-RSS stands exposed before the poor, labourers and farmers.