Upper caste reservation is election gimmick

New Delhi, January 07: Leaders of Opposition parties on Monday criticized the government s reported move to allow reservation for poorer people among the upper castes, with some saying that the decision was an election gimmick.

Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Monday called the Modi governments move of 10 per cent reservation for economically backward upper castes in jobs and educational institutions as an "election gimmick".

Singhvi, among the first to inform on twitter about the cabinet s approval to 10 per cent reservation to economically backward upper castes, questioned whether the Modi government had the majority in Parliament to carry out the Constitutional amendment.

"Did you (government) not think of this for 4 years and 8 months? So, obviously thought of as election gimmick 3 months before model code. You know you cannot exceed 50 per cent cap, so it is done only to posture that you tried unconstitutional thing," Singhvi said on twitter.