Gandhinagar: Leader of the Congress legislature party in the assembly, Amit Chavda, said on Tuesday that party workers and MLAs will stage a protest outside the chief minister's office if the report of Justice (retired) K S Jhaveri on reservation to OBCs in local self-govt is not made public.
Addressing reporters at the legislative assembly, Chavda alleged that the state BJP govt has discriminated against the OBC communities. By not making the commission report public, the govt aims to restrict their political representation.
Chavda said that as per Supreme Court orders, the state govt announced the formation of the commission in July 2022 to determine the representation of OBCs in self-govt institutions. "Although the commission was supposed to provide its report in 90 days, it was finally accepted by the govt in April 2023. The Congress has made several written representations and also organised dharnas, but the govt is not willing to make the report public," Chavda said.
He added that if the govt does not make the report public in one week, a dharna will be staged outside the chief minister's office in Gandhinagar.
In Sep 2023, the state govt introduced a bill in the assembly, granting 27% reservation to OBCs in all local self-govt bodies like municipal corporations, municipalities, taluka panchayat, and district panchayats.