National News

The 50% reservation cap cannot be breached, says Arun Jaitley

He was referring to comments by Hardik Patel, who said the Congress had agreed to give reservations over and above 50 per cent

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, during a Cabinet briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday, has said that the reservation cap of 50 per cent “cannot be breached”, with the Gujarat assembly polls coming up.

Mr. Jaitley was referring to comments by Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel, who said the Congress party had agreed to give reservations over and above 50 per cent for the SC, ST and OBCs.

“From the statements I have seen so far, the Congress-Hardik club is one of mutual destruction,” Mr. Jaitley said.

“The law of the land is very clear and is laid down by the Supreme Court, and only reaffirmed last week in Rajasthan’s case that 50 per cent reservation cap cannot be breached.

“You can deceive the people and yourself, but in elections only those promises can be made to each other and the public that can be implemented.”

Mr. Patel told journalists in Ahmedabad on Wednesday that the “Congress had agreed to give Patidars reservation under Section 31 and provisions of Section 46”.

However, he refrained from pledging his support to the Congress. “Our primary goal is to get quota for Patidars and to achieve that, we first have to defeat the BJP,” he said.

Your Opinion Counts !

Show More

Related Articles

Close

Adblock Detected

Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker