Digvijay traps AICC on wrong foot

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) was caught unawares by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s decision to increase the ...

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) was caught unawares by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh’s decision to increase the total job reservation to 63 per cent by taking the OBC quota from 14 to 27 per cent.

Following a Cabinet decision yesterday, Digvijay plans to bring an ordinance on Monday and send it to the Governor for ratification. With this, he hopes to find favour with the OBCs who constitute 52 per cent of the state population if the ordinance is ratified. And if it is not cleared, the BJP at the Centre, and the main Opposition in the state, can be painted anti-OBC.

CMs’ foreign trips: Cong slams Centre for being ‘partisan’

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday said the Centre was ‘‘heaping insults at the state govts’’ by not allowing party CMs to go abroad. Referring to the denial of permission to MP CM Digvijay Singh, and now Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, who is awaiting the government nod, spokesperson Jaipal Reddy, alleging that the Govt was being “brazenly partisan”, said: ‘‘Residual powers have always been with the Centre but they have never been misused before.’’ When asked how Sushilkumar Shinde got permission, Reddy said: ‘‘The PM had to intervene.’’ (ENS)

All this has not made the going easy for the Congress in Delhi which is having to support contradictory positions of the state governments in their rush to sort out caste politics before Assembly polls. While the party is yet to endorse Gehlot’s formula, many in the party feel Digvijay’s proposal for exceeding 50 pc reservation would be ‘‘inequitable’’. Also in MP’s case, the decision goes against the SC judgment in the Indira Sawhney case which stipulated that reservation should not cross 50 pc.

The party today had to do some legal hair-splitting to defend Digvijay. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi stressed: ‘‘The apex court recognises sufficient flexibility and play in the joints in its Mandal judgment when it provides that 50 pc ceiling may be exceeded in special cases.’’ The party hopes the state’s population profile with 36 pc SCs and STs, and 52 pc OBCs, ‘‘will be one of the factors making up those special circumstances,’’ he said. Digvijay was one of the leaders who were non-committal on Gehlot’s reservations for upper caste poor.

The police said the trio from Chandigarh — Rohan (21), Sumit (22), and Mohit (19) — were dhol players by profession and had procured the weapons due to an old rivalry with local residents.

Suspecting affair, Odisha lecturer assaults wife and her friend, parades them on street

India7 hr ago

A lecturer of Commerce and his associate were arrested for assaulting his wife, garlanding her with slippers and parading her on the road with her male friend. The woman, who has been living separately from her husband, was assaulted and humiliated in public. The incident was recorded and shared on social media. Police have seized evidence and are investigating the matter.

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