Congress demands Orissa CM's resign

Bhubaneswar, Jan 27 (UNI) The Opposition Congress in Orissa today demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for slashing the reservation for OBCs from 27 to 11.25 per cent.

Other Backward Class Department chairman Jaganath Rout told mediapersons here that despite 0the BJD-BJP alliance government came to power with 55 per cent support from OBCs of the state, he betrayed them by decreasing the quota limit.

Criticising the anti-quota decision, he demanded the alliance government to step down and seek a fresh mandate.

The government came up with the decision to comply with the Supreme Court's order, which ruled that the maximum limit of reservation should not exceed 50 per cent.

Earlier, 38.75 per cent reservation was provided to SC and ST section in the state. However, the limit went up to 65.75 after the government implemented the Mandal Commission report and provided 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs.

Mr Rout demanded that on the lines of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the state government should have retained more than 50 per cent reservation and move proposals in the Assembly to include the provision in the 9th schedule of the Constitution for its continuance.

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