'PM must clarify on quotas'

The BJP today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clarify the true position regarding the move to reserve seats for OBCs in professional colleges in the wake of Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh "changing" his version.

"HRD Minister Arjun Singh announced reservation in the institutions for backward class students. For two days, he kept saying it was the PM's decision. Yesterday, he said no such decision had been taken," BJP President Rajnath Singh told reporters here before resuming his Bharat Suraksha Yatra.

He said if a senior Cabinet minister changed his version in two days, the prime minister should clarify the position as it was a question of the government's credibility.

"It is a different matter that UPA's credibility has nose-dived in the last two years of the Congress-led coalition in power," Singh added.

Singh today entered Jharkhand after a two-day tour of Chhattisgarh.

Throughout his yatra, he has been addressing a series of public meetings touching on issues like internal security, price rise, Naxal violence and infiltration from Bangladesh.

Referring to Indo-Pak relations, Singh said New Delhi should not talk to Islamabad till President Musharraf ensured an end to cross-border infiltration and terrorism.