Jat leaders to meet Modi, Shah on Thursday over reservation issue

Chandigarh, March 25 (IANS) Jat community leaders will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to discuss the issue of reservation for the community following the recent Supreme Court order quashing the quota, a senior union minister said.

Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Birender Singh told media here on Wednesday that a delegation, comprising Jat leaders and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, will meet Modi and Amit Shah in New Delhi to hold discussions regarding the issue.

Asserting the matter would be taken up at the highest level, he said that ways would be found to approach a bigger bench of the Supreme Court for review and re-examination of the issue for restoration of reservation facility to Jats.

"There is no difference among people belonging to Gurjar, Yadav and Jat community because they have same social background and were being exploited for ages," said Singh, himself a Jat leader who switched from the Congress to the BJP last year.

Haryana's ruling BJP and its government had, on Tuesday, openly come out in support of job quota for Jats even after the Supreme Court quashed a central government notification giving reservation to the community.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who met Jat community leaders here Wednesday, told the media that the matter would be taken up with the central government.

Jat leader Yashpal Malik blamed former union minister Kumari Selja for the reservation for Jats being quashed by the Supreme Court.

"She was always opposed to it (during the Congress-led UPA government). The matter was weakened before the Supreme Court because of her," Malik alleged in an interaction with the media in Hisar.