Karunanidhi describes quota bill as historic

Chennai, Aug 26 (UNI) DMK President and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today described as ''historic'' the introduction of the Bill in Parliament providing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in higher educational institutions.

Talking to reporters after a Cabinet meeting here, Mr Karunanidhi traced the history of the reservation in the state and said a new chapter has been written on the issue.

He hoped for a strong votary of 27 per cent reservation in one go, and expressed confidence of achieving full success in the end.

When asked about the implementation of the Bill in phases spread over three years as against his demand for implementing it in one go, Mr Karunanidhi said he was satisfied the Centre did not say that it would not do it.

Asked whether he was consulted by the Centre before it introduced the Bill in Parliament, Mr Karunanidhi said the decision was taken after consulting all the Union Ministers from the state.

''In issues like NLC disinvestment, all of them rose in one voice. But reservation is a sensitive issue. There is a lot of opposition to it.

''We have to go step by step. We are satisfied with the introduction of the Bill. But we -- I and PMK Founder S Ramadoss -- will fight till we achieve our goal,'' he added.

Stating the history of the reservation stir in the state dated back to more than five decades, Mr Karunanidhi said only because of the agitations launched by leaders like social reformer 'Periyar' E V Ramaswamy, DMK Founder C N Annadurai and K Kamaraj, the first amendment to the Constitution was brought in 1950 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Former Prime Minister V P Singh, who implemented the Mandal Commission recommendations 20 years ago, had done only in stages.

''These were path-breaking chapters in the history of reservation and we will achieve complete success in this awakening,'' he added.

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