Reservation issue: Jat leaders to meet Sonia Gandhi today

New Delhi: Jat leaders will meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday against the backdrop of government asking the backwards commission to take an expeditious call on granting the community reservation in central government jobs. The meeting of the jat community leaders with Gandhi assumes significance as the decision of the Union Cabinet is being seen as an effort of the UPA to woo the community ahead of the Lok Sabha elections due next year. The Union Cabinet on Thursday had asked the National Commission of Backward Classes to take a final call on granting them with OBC status at the central level.

The Cabinet decided that the NCBC should reconsider its earlier decision of 2011 in which it had rejected demands for reservation to the community at the central level. If jats are included in the central list of OBCs, they can avail benefits of reservation in central government jobs and central education institutions as per the existing norms.