Reported By Manish Sharma
Amid the ongoing tussle between the Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot factions in Rajasthan, former Punjab Congress in-charge and former minister Harish Chaudhary has now voiced his concern against the Chief Minister over the OBC reservation issue. The Congress leader has accused Gehlot of not resolving the issue of OBC reservation in the state and said that he would launch an agitation.
Chaudhary alleged that despite his promise, Gehlot did not take any decision over the discrepancy of OBC reservation in the Rajasthan Cabinet meeting.
He threatened to launch an agitation if the state government did not change rules that "allow former defence personnel to dominate the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC)" due to a decision taken by the previous BJP government in 2018.
Jat leader Chaudhary said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led cabinet met two days back and a decision on a discrepancy in the OBC reservation was to be taken in the meeting. He alleged the issue was deliberately deferred in the meeting. He claimed that he has, on several occasions, asked Gehlot to take up the matter and resolve it. Chaudhary said that Gehlot had agreed to discuss the same in the cabinet meeting but now he is clueless as to why the matter is being deferred before Rahul Gandhi- lead Bharat Jodo Yatra reaches Rajasthan. Harish Chaudhary threatened to go on the streets against his government if the issue is not resolved.
In a tweet on Thursday, Chaudhary had said, "Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ji, I am shocked, what do you want after all? I assured the OBC class that I will fight whatever battle has to be fought in this matter."
"We are associated with Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, every person believes that we are right, so we will not be afraid and will talk to all members of the cabinet in the right way to explain our demand," PTI quoted Chaudhary as saying.
He even met state Congress chief Govind Dotasra on Friday demanding that a cabinet meeting be called again for a decision on “rectifying the discrepancies".
It is being said on social media that it was due to minister Pratap Khachariyawas’ suggestion that CM Ashok Gehlot deferred the issue.
On the quota question, Sachin Pilot's loyalist MLA Mukesh Bhakar tweeted earlier in the day, "If the government does not take a quick decision in the interest of OBCs, then the Chief Minister himself will be responsible for the atmosphere that will be created in the state against the government and the party. For me, getting rights to the youth is more important than any post."
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Notably, in 2018, an order was issued to give the advantage of OBC reservation to former defence personnel. Now, the OBC community in Rajasthan is demanding the cancellation of this order. Protests over the same issue have been continuing in Rajasthan for some time now and Harish Chaudhary too had joined the agitation once. But now, he has openly come up against the Congress government in the state over the issue of OBC reservation.