Lalu demands quota in private sector, BJP too favours him

Patna, Apr 11: Echoing his ally JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's demand for reservation for Scheduled Castes and Schedules Tribes in private sector, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad on Sunday said his party has been making this demand for quite some time.

"Our party has been demanding reservation in private sector for quite some time," Prasad told reporters here.

The RJD boss flayed private sector firms for having refused to implement reservation on some pretext or the other. Industry bodies had in the past opposed job reservation in the private sector saying it would affect competitiveness in corporate India.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi too supported the demand saying, "As a matter of principle, we are in favour of extending reservation in private sector. But there may be some legal hurldes in implementing the same."

The scope of extending benefits is possible where the government has given grant or subsidy or land to the firms, he said, adding private sector can not be forced to implement it.

BJP's alliance partner and LJP supremo Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had also recently made this demand.

The Central government should come up with reservation in the private sector for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, he had said.

Paswan had said if a private sector firm avails of funds from the government, they should adopt its reservation policy too.

Nitish had yesterday made a strong pitch for extending reservation in private sector.

"In today's time of economic liberalisation, if reservation is not provided in private sector then it would be a joke with the concept of social justice," Kumar had said.

He had also demanded an amendment in Constitution to increase the cap of 50 per cent quota.

PTI