All party meeting on EWS quota was a ‘drama’, says BJP

Tamil Nadu BJP, which boycotted the all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on the recent judgment on reservation to economically backward sections (EWS), said that it did not want to participate in a “drama” enacted by the DMK regarding the issue.

Addressing media, State BJP president K. Annamalai said the meeting held on Saturday was just a meeting of DMK and its allies as both the AIADMK and his party boycotted it.

He accused the Congress and Communist parties of taking different stands at the national and the State level on the issue of EWS reservation to communities other than Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Earlier, in a statement on the call for all-party meeting, he criticised DMK’s opposition to the EWS reservation by pointing out that the United Progressive Alliance, of which the DMK was a part of, prepared a Bill for implementing the same following the report submitted by the Sinho Commission.

He said the BJP supported the implementation of Mandal Commission’s recommendations, consistently defended the 69% reservation in place in Tamil Nadu even though the same was not allowed in other States, and protected the right of the State governments to decide which communities should be included in the list of OBCs.