Rahul Gandhi willing to talk to anyone on reservation issue

Rae Bareli, Apr 29 (UNI) In his first reaction to the ongoing reservation controversy, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi today said the issue was ''complex'' with both sides having valid points and expressed willingness to talk to anyone in this regard.

''I am open to meeting anyone who comes to me in this regard. It is a complex issue with both sides having valid points,'' the Congress leader said while addressing a street meeting in this district, from where his mother and AICC president Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election during the May eight bypolls.

His statement came during his address in Dipramau, a small village in Rae Bareli.

His willingness to take a plunge into the ongoing debate is significant, since Mr Gandhi is seen to represent the vast youth community across the country which is up in arms against the Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh's announcement to implement 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in admissions to centrally funded institutions of higher education, including Medical Colleges and the IITs.

The students had taken to streets recently in the national capital against the proposed move of the UPA government. The agitation is being seen in various quarters as Mandal II, the sequel to nationwide agitation against implementation of Mandal Commission recommendations by the V P Singh government at the Centre in 1990.

The agitating students have personally met the HRD minister in this regard.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal had spoken against the proposed quota.

UNI NAB/SB ARS AK ND1438