09-07-2006, 12:18 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Don't intimidate me on quota issue: Moily tells Papa Doss
Pioneer.com
K Venkataramanan | Chennai
Hurt by strident criticism from UPA ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), senior Congress leader and chairman of the Oversight Committee on Reservations, Veerappa Moily, has bluntly asked PMK founder S Ramadoss not to intimidate him or try to question his pro-reservation credentials.
<b>Ramadoss had criticised Moily for his recommendations on "other backward classes" reservation in Central educational institutions and had asked his supporters to hold demonstrations against him whenever Moily visited Tamil Nadu.</b>
<b>"I fail to understand why you should tell your cadres to stage demonstrations against me. It is appropriate that you put more pressure on the UPA Government and the UPA coordination committee, instead of intimidating me in the manner you have done through your statements,"</b> Moily said in a letter to Ramadoss.
Ramadoss is upset that the UPA Government had decided on implementing 27 per cent OBC quotas in phases instead of doing it in one go. He had also hinted that Moily's panel had recommended that the 'creamy layer' among the OBCs be kept out of the purview of reservations, and that it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi's intervention that led to the 'creamy layer' concept being dropped from the Bill ultimately introduced in Parliament.
Rejecting the charge that he had favoured denial of OBC benefits to the creamy layer among them, Moily said the committee had actually not made any recommendation on the issue. It was for the UPA Government and the UPA coordination committee to take a political decision on such issues. He pointed out that Ramadoss was a member of the UPA and that his son, Anbumani Ramadoss, was a member of the UPA Cabinet.
<b>Moily, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, underscored his track record as a leader committed to the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and minorities. He had brought in BC reservation in local bodies in Karnataka and introduced a common entrance test for admission to professional courses that enabled thousands of Dalits and backward class students to become engineers and doctors without paying capitation fees.</b>
Moily said he had advised Congressmen in Tamil Nadu not to get upset by the statement of Ramadoss. As Congress Working Committee member in charge of Tamil Nadu, it was his duty to maintain unity and solidarity within the (DMK-led) Democratic Progressive Alliance and the UPA, of which the Congress and PMK were partners.
He released his letter to the media "so that the mistrust among our friendly parties is not rekindled," Moily said.
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Pioneer.com
K Venkataramanan | Chennai
Hurt by strident criticism from UPA ally Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), senior Congress leader and chairman of the Oversight Committee on Reservations, Veerappa Moily, has bluntly asked PMK founder S Ramadoss not to intimidate him or try to question his pro-reservation credentials.
<b>Ramadoss had criticised Moily for his recommendations on "other backward classes" reservation in Central educational institutions and had asked his supporters to hold demonstrations against him whenever Moily visited Tamil Nadu.</b>
<b>"I fail to understand why you should tell your cadres to stage demonstrations against me. It is appropriate that you put more pressure on the UPA Government and the UPA coordination committee, instead of intimidating me in the manner you have done through your statements,"</b> Moily said in a letter to Ramadoss.
Ramadoss is upset that the UPA Government had decided on implementing 27 per cent OBC quotas in phases instead of doing it in one go. He had also hinted that Moily's panel had recommended that the 'creamy layer' among the OBCs be kept out of the purview of reservations, and that it was Congress president Sonia Gandhi's intervention that led to the 'creamy layer' concept being dropped from the Bill ultimately introduced in Parliament.
Rejecting the charge that he had favoured denial of OBC benefits to the creamy layer among them, Moily said the committee had actually not made any recommendation on the issue. It was for the UPA Government and the UPA coordination committee to take a political decision on such issues. He pointed out that Ramadoss was a member of the UPA and that his son, Anbumani Ramadoss, was a member of the UPA Cabinet.
<b>Moily, a former Chief Minister of Karnataka, underscored his track record as a leader committed to the welfare of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes and minorities. He had brought in BC reservation in local bodies in Karnataka and introduced a common entrance test for admission to professional courses that enabled thousands of Dalits and backward class students to become engineers and doctors without paying capitation fees.</b>
Moily said he had advised Congressmen in Tamil Nadu not to get upset by the statement of Ramadoss. As Congress Working Committee member in charge of Tamil Nadu, it was his duty to maintain unity and solidarity within the (DMK-led) Democratic Progressive Alliance and the UPA, of which the Congress and PMK were partners.
He released his letter to the media "so that the mistrust among our friendly parties is not rekindled," Moily said.
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