BJP slams Congress for blocking OBC bill

Bhubaneswar: The BJP National Executive hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA government on Sunday for enacting a bill to grant constitutional status to the OBC Commission and slammed the Congress for blocking it in the Rajya Sabha.

"The OBCs have been demanding constitutional status to the Commission for 30 years. However, the Congress did not do it as it preferred vote bank politics. For the first time, the Modi government took a decision to grant a constitutional status and got the bill passed in the Lok Sabha," Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told the media.

"The Congress and other parties did not allow it to pass in the Rajya Sabha, demanding further discussion on it. It has been sent to the Select Committee. It is unfortunate," the minister said.

Javadekar said the Bharatiya Janata Party's vote share in Manipur, Uttarakhand and Odisha had increased significantly due to the development policies of the party.

"The BJP came to power in 2014 with the message of hope. Now, that hope among people has transformed into trust and confidence in the BJP. Also, the Prime Minister has earned the trust of poor people."

The minister said the poverty alleviation programme, which was earlier associated with the Congress and Indira Gandhi, had now become the BJP's plank.