NDA divided over lateral entry into bureaucracy: JD(U), LJP oppose, TDP supports move

Tyagi also suggested that by doing this the government was handing over an issue to the Opposition on a platter. “Those opposed to the NDA will misuse this advertisement. Rahul Gandhi will become a champion of the socially disadvantaged. We should not be giving a weapon in the hands of the Opposition,” Tyagi said.

LJP (Ram Vilas) president and Union Minister Chirag Paswan, too, expressed his unhappiness about the advertisement, which was published on Saturday. “Reservation provisions must be there in any government appointment. There are no ifs and buts in this. No reservation exists in the private sector and if it is not implemented in government positions as well … The information came up before me on Sunday and it is a matter of concern for me,” Paswan told PTI.

Paswan said as a member of the government he had the platform to raise the issue and he would. The Union Minister also said as far as his party was concerned, it was “absolutely not in support” of such a measure.

His party spokesperson A K Vajpayee told The Indian Express, “We are opposed to lateral entry without reservation. This is against the Constitutional mandate. Since we are part of the NDA, we request the government to reconsider its decision. We will take appropriate steps in this matter at the appropriate time.”

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh minister and TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh told The Indian Express, “Several of these (government) departments need expertise and we are happy it (lateral entry) is being brought in. We have always been in favour of taking expertise from the private sector into the government. The government should learn from the private and vice versa. We support this move by the Central government as it will enhance the quality of governance and delivery of services to the common citizen.”

Rahul Gandhi criticises govt move

The differing voices in the ruling alliance emerged as Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi stepped up the Opposition’s criticism of the move on Monday, calling the UPSC move “an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis”. Gandhi said the “BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans”.

In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge explained “why the Modi government’s Lateral Entry provision (was) an attack on the Constitution”. Kharge said that “instead of filling jobs in government departments, BJP has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts in the last 10 years by selling off Government of India’s shares in PSUs alone”.

“There has been an increase of 91% in casual and contract recruitment. SC, ST, OBC posts have been reduced by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23,” wrote the Congress chief.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav has also criticised the move, saying the time has come to “start a national movement” against the “conspiracy by the BJP to appoint their ideological friends on top posts under the UPSC”.

“In fact, the whole plan is to snatch away reservation and the rights of the ‘PDA (Pichhda, Dalits, Adivasis)’. Now that the BJP has realised that the PDA have risen against their plan to change the Constitution, they want to deny reservation surreptitiously by allowing lateral entry,” he said on Sunday.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has said the government’s move is “not right”. On Sunday, she said it would deprive employees in the lower rung of promotional opportunities and accused the government of “violating the Constitution”.

Defending the UPSC move, the BJP has pointed out that lateral entry was introduced by the Congress-led UPA government and will improve governance. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday said, “INC hypocrisy is evident on lateral entry matter. It was the UPA government which developed the concept of lateral entry. The second Admin Reforms Commission (ARC) was established in 2005 under UPA government. Shri Veerappa Moily chaired it. UPA period ARC recommended the recruitment of experts to fill the gaps in roles that require specialised knowledge.”

Vaishnaw said the Modi government would maintain transparency in the recruitment process. “The NDA government has created a transparent method to implement this recommendation. Recruitment will be done through UPSC in a transparent and fair manner. This reform will improve governance,” he said.

On Saturday, the UPSC advertised 45 posts — 10 of joint secretary level and 35 director or deputy secretary posts — to be filled through the lateral entry mode on a contract basis. Earlier this month, MoS Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha, “63 appointments have been made through lateral entry … in the last five years. Presently, 57 officers (lateral entrants) occupy positions in Ministries/Departments.”

Reservation has to be offered for any appointment in the bureaucracy. In public jobs and universities, reservation is implemented via what is known as the “13-point roster”. According to this policy, a candidate’s position on a roster of openings is determined by dividing the quota percentage of their group (SC, ST, OBC, and now EWS) by a hundred. If the 45 vacancies advertised on Saturday were to be considered as a single group, according to the 13-point roster, six vacancies would be reserved for SC candidates, three for ST candidates, 12 for OBC candidates, and four for the EWS category. But since these vacancies have been advertised separately for each department, all of them are effectively single-post vacancies, and hence bypass the policy of reservations.