PM Narendra Modi spoke on quota with eye on Bihar elections: Congress MP

HYDERABAD: Wondering why Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained silence on the reservation issue for long, Congress Rajya Sabha member V Hanmumantha Rao today alleged that the PM spoke on the sensitive matter only because he found his party in a "tough situation" in the ongoing Bihar Assembly polls.

"Why did he (Modi) keep quiet for one month? Why he did not say after (RSS Chief) Mohan Bhagwat's comments favouring review of reservations that his Government would not rethink on reservations? He spoke now because he has found BJP in a tough situation in Bihar," Rao, who is Convener of OBC MPs Forum, told reporters here.

The NDA government is implementing RSS agenda, he charged.

Modi, speaking at a public meeting in Mumbai yesterday, categorically ruled out scrapping of the reservation system. His remarks came on the eve of the first phase of Bihar polls.

Last month, Bhagwat's call for a review of the existing quota policy for the backward classes and weaker sections had triggered a controversy.