Congress launches 24-hour dharna demanding 27% reservation for SEBC

Bhubaneswar: The Congress Thursday launched a 24-hour dharna near Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi’s official residence in Bhubaneswar demanding a five-point charter of demands including 27 per cent reservation for candidates belonging to the Socially and Economically Backward Class (SEBC) in education and jobs.

Congress party leaders and workers led by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das and AICC in-charge for the state, Ajay Kumar Lallu, sat on a dharna at a tent near the CM’s residence at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg here.

“Our dharna will continue for 24 hours till 10am Friday. The Congress leaders and workers will spend the night at the ‘satyagraha’ site here,” Das told reporters here.

The Congress ‘Satyagraha’ on the SEBC reservation came a day after the opposition BJD staged a protest rally near Raj Bhavan making a similar demand Wednesday.

Both the parties hit the streets after the state’s BJP government last week announced its decision to provide 11.25 per cent quota for SEBC students in the higher education system. However, there was no provision of reservation for SEBC students in medical, engineering and other technical courses as it has been done for ST and SC students.

Both the parties demanded that SEBC students must get 27 per cent reservation in education including technical education and jobs.

However, the ruling BJP said that the state government will soon make provision for reservation for SEBC students in medical and engineering courses. BJP state president Manmohan Samal said his party introduced the quota for the SEBC students within 11 months of forming the government while the BJD “failed” to do so during its 24 years of rule from 2000 to 2024.

The OPCC president said that the Congress’ five-point charter of demands include 27 per cent reservation for SEBC students in government jobs, quota provision for them in technical education including medical and engineering courses, reservation should also be implemented immediately in Panchayati Raj elections and reservation should be implemented in the private sector.

Das said his party also demands strengthening of the SC, ST Development Finance Cooperative Corporation Limited. “The government should keep Rs 5,000 crore in the corporation so that the SEBC people can take credit and do business,” he said, adding that the population ratio of SEBC in Odisha was above 50 per cent.

Meanwhile, Opposition Chief Whip in Odisha Assembly Pramila Mallik of BJD said that her party would continue to demand 27 per cent reservation for SEBC. “In fact, we are of the opinion that the reservation should be in proportion to the population ratio,” she said.

PTI

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