Quantum of reservation may be below 27 pc: Arjun

New Delhi, May 20 : Asserting that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was fully aware of the OBC quota move, Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh today vehemently denied suggestions that he was jealous of him and jumped the gun on the issue to embarrass him.

Mr Singh also clarified that the quantum of reservation had not been decided yet, and it could be less than 27 per cent.

He confirmed that the Government was considering increasing the number of seats in IITs and IIMs.

''The OBC reservation issue was in public domain right from December 2005 when the Bill was introduced in Parliament, and the Prime Minister was fully aware and had met OBC leaders in this connection,'' Mr Singh told CNN-IBN TV channel in its programme'The Devil's Advocate' to be telecast tonight.

Mr Singh said the stories spread by someone in PMO that he went ahead with the quota decision without consulting the Prime Minister were without any substance.

He strongly refuted the charge that he was jealous of Dr Manmohan Singh because Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi picked Manmohan Singh and not him for the Prime Minister's job.

The decision on the quota was not taken in isolation. It had the full backing of the government. Besides, once Parliament had unanimously decided in favour of the move, there was no question of going back, said Mr Singh.

''It is now not an issue for debate. I have to implement a decision taken by the country's supreme legislature,'' he said.

Replying to a question, Mr Singh said he fully sympathised with the youth who were protesting against the resrevation, but believed that their agitation had been overhyped by the media. He said he was prepared to do anything for them and greatly resented the rise of force against them when they came to meet him at his residence.

To another question, he admitted that the Government did not know the exact percentage of OBCs in the country but said that it did not in any way affect the case for reservation for them.

He suggested that the creamy layer could be excluded from OBC reservation.

The Minister clarified that with the exception of the percentage and the possible exclusion of the creamy layer, reservations for the OBCs in higher education would be indentical in everyway to those for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The Human Resource Development Minister refused to accept that the reservation issue had not been handled properly and could have been tackled in a better manner.

Coming back to the issue of his relationship witn the Prime Minister, he said there was no personal motive behind the decision for reservation.

He also said that no one was interfering in the decisions taken by the Prime Minister and all decisions taken by him had full consent of the Cabinet.

UNI

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