The Madhya Pradesh unit of Congress on Wednesday announced that the party will give 27 per cent tickets to OBC candidates for the local body elections in the state. The decision was announced by state Congress President Kamal Nath after a meeting with other party leaders on Tuesday. The politics in the state over the OBC reservation issue has heated up again after the Supreme Court ordered the state election body to conduct local body elections without OBC reservation. Notably, both the Congress and the BJP in December last year had passed a unanimous resolution in the Assembly that the local body elections would not be held without OBC reservation.
However, complying with the SC's direction, the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) has started preparations for the polls. On Wednesday, the SEC held a meeting and decided that the notification regarding the elections would be issued by May 24. Officials in the SEC said that district administrations have also been directed to prepare for the elections. Ever since the SC's order was pronounced on Tuesday, the Congress has been blaming the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government for the present situation. It has alleged that the state government did not present data before the apex court, which led to the present situation.
Former Chief Minister Kamal Nath said on Wednesday, "We have no hope from the BJP now. They (BJP) did nothing for the last two years. The state government could have amended the rule to provide 27 per cent reservation to OBC, but they did nothing. Nor had they represented the case in the court and as a result, the SC pronounced its judgment on Tuesday." On the other hand, the ruling BJP's state unit chief V.D. Sharma announced that the party will give more than 27 per cent tickets to deserving OBC candidates for the local body polls, adding that the priority is to address the issue by filing a review petition in the Supreme Court.