Fotedar questions govt's quota move

In the first in-house criticism of the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, senior Congress leader M L Fotedar has reportedly questioned the recent initiatives of the Congress-led UPA government to extend the cover of reservations to more communities.

Speaking at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Monday, Fotedar, who is a known loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, wondered why the party leadership could not foresee that raking up reservations would only create a backlash for the party in electoral terms.

His pointer was the recent UP elections where the Congress had failed to make any impact even after wooing Muslims in a major way. Fotedar, however, refused to speak on the issue when contacted for confirmation of the contents of his speech.

However, reliable party sources said that Fotedar had clarified that he was not against reservations as such but felt that the Congress leadership appeared to be oblivious of the repercussions of such moves. He even wondered whether the "party had specific political aims in mind while making moves on reservations".

Invoking the names of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Fotedar said the Congress had always flourished when it stood for oneness of people and not when it tried to compete with smaller regional parties in creating divisions in the society.

He was apparently referring to the Sachar Committee report that highlighted the discrimination against Muslims in jobs and also HRD Minister Arjun Singh's move to extend reservations for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in educational institutions.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with some two dozen top-rung leaders were present as Fotedar spoke during the one-and-a-half hour meet.

Sources said soon after HRD Minister Arjun Singh moved the resolution authorising Sonia Gandhi to nominate the party's candidate for the Presidential candidate, Fotedar questioned why the leadership was propping up five or six names instead of one.