BJP against reservation for backward classes, says JD (U) leader Kushwaha

Senior JD (U) leader Upendra Kushwaha alleged that the BJP was against reservation for backward classes and the people of Bihar are aware of the saffron party's stance.

He also claimed that fresh guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) for creating a new teaching position are opposed to quotas.

"The UGC guidelines under which higher education institutes can create a new teaching position called 'Professor of Practice' to hire experts from various sectors are against reservations for backward classes. They (BJP) have already recruited 40 people under this new category but not even a single person has been appointed as 'Professor of Practice' from the backward classes," Kushwaha told reporters here on Saturday.

"It's a conspiracy of the BJP to recruit RSS sympathisers from the backdoor and deprive backward classes of their rights," said Kushwaha, the JD(U) parliamentary board chief.

On BJP's allegation that the Bihar government failing to comply with a Supreme Court order led to deferment of urban local body polls in the state, he said people know that the saffron party is "anti-reservation and anti-backward classes".

"Our Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already made it clear that fresh municipal polls will now be held in the state only after reservations for Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes, set aside by the Patna High Court, are restored," he added.

The state election commission deferred the polls, scheduled in two phases on October 10 and October 20, saying that fresh dates will be announced in due course.