OBC quota within women's reservation non-negotiable demand for Congress K Raju

New Delhi, Apr 30 (PTI) The immediate implementation of women's reservation on the current Lok Sabha strength and an OBC quota within it are two "non-negotiable" demands of the Congress, senior party leader K Raju said on Thursday.
    Raju, who is the Congress's national coordinator for the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Minorities departments, pointed out that former party president Sonia Gandhi had called for the immediate implementation of women's reservation and an OBC quota within it in 2023, when the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was being discussed.
    "There are two non-negotiable demands that the Congress has -- women's reservation be implemented on the existing 543 seats in the Lok Sabha; and secondly, under women's reservation, an OBC quota is provided," Raju told PTI.
    "These are the two non-negotiables. Thousands of our Mahila Congress workers are sending postcards to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get women's reservation implemented on the existing 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and demanding an OBC quota in the women's reservation," he said.
    "When this bill came up in 2023, Sonia Gandhiji had raised the demand that it should be immediately implemented and OBC women should also get reservation within the women's quota. We are sticking to that," Raju asserted.
    Earlier this week, the Congress reiterated its demand that the BJP-led Centre must convene an all-party meeting to discuss how the women's quota law can be put into effect with the existing strength of the Lok Sabha from 2029 onwards, saying it is now time for Modi to make amends for his "sins of using India's women" to drive through his personal political agenda.
    The opposition, including the Congress, has alleged that the Modi government wants to push delimitation in the garb of the women's reservation issue.
    The Congress has also demanded that the Centre immediately implement the women's quota on the existing Lok Sabha strength by bringing a bill in Parliament's Monsoon Session or earlier.
    The government's Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement the women's quota in legislatures and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to up to 850 was defeated in the Lower House recently.
    While 298 members voted in support of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Of the 528 votes, the bill required 352 for a two-thirds majority.
    Asked whether the Congress could become the party of choice for Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, Raju said Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers are getting attracted to the grand old party and Rahul Gandhi due to the latter's stand on safeguarding the Constitution.
    "That is the reason we got a good amount of votes in 2024 from these communities," he said.
    "In the next few days, the party will focus on bringing those disenchanted with the BSP into the Congress fold. Large-scale joinings are planned involving thousands of BSP workers. So a Bahujan campaign with Dalits and OBC together is on the anvil," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)