Expressing his concerns regarding lateral entry into the bureaucracy, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief and Union minister Chirag Paswan said Tuesday that he has been continuously taking up the matter with the authorities concerned, and that he had also taken it up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Ever since the matter came to my notice, I have been continuously taking up the issue at various places with the authorities concerned. I have brought it to the notice of the PM and strongly put forward the concerns of SCs, STs and OBCs regarding the issue,” he told reporters in Patna. He said he has been in touch with the PM’s Office for the last two days regarding the issue, and that he hoped the PM would “understand the seriousness of the matter, and appreciate that since the private sector has no provision of quota, any government appointment should follow quota rules. This has always been the demand of LJP(R)”. Amidst protests from the Opposition and also from some NDA allies, including LJP(R), the Centre on Tuesday asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to withdraw its advertisements for 45 posts of joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries, advertised three days ago. The LJP(R), with its five MPs, is one of the NDA’s key allies after the TDP and the JD(U).
