NEW DELHI: In what appears to be a crack in the OBC camp, railway minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has come to the aid of beleaguered Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the OBC reservation issue, ditching UPA’s southern allies —-– the DMK and the PMK.
In June, DMK chief M Karunanidhi had threatened to pull out of the UPA if the government did not backtrack on its decision to disinvest Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Hence, UPA managers had been somewhat jittery with the DMK enlisting the support of northern caste leaders such as Laloo Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan on the quota issue. Both Yadav and Paswan had gone on record supporting the demand for implementation of reservation at one go. Lalu Yadav has since backtracked. PMK chief Ramadoss who called on the RJD chief on Tuesday got a taste of Laloo’s U-turn.
The railway minister advised Ramadoss not to precipitate any crisis for the government that is beset with a host of problems, the latest being the Natwar Singh issue. Ramadoss, sources said, got the impression that with the fodder scam case coming up again, Lalu does not want to rub the government the wrong way.
The PMK chief on Wednesday criticised Laloo’s stand saying, “He is behaving like an upper caste representative. I don’t know the reason. Lalu should lead the reservation issue, but he is oscillating…... It is a pity that no OBC leader from north India except Sharad Yadav (Janata Dal-United) is raising their voice on the OBC issue.”
The PMK chief is meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on August 16 to take up the matter. On Wednesday, he called on Veerappa Moily, chairman of Oversights Committee that is preparing the roadmap for implementation of OBC quota. Moily told Ramadoss that the government plans to implement quota in a phased manner and explained the practical difficulties in implementing reservation at one go. Apart from resource crunch, necessary infrastructure is also not in place.
DMK sources said Karunanidhi will not keep quiet for long and he would make it a big issue shortly.
