New Delhi: Not many in the Cabinet want to be quoted on the quota issue these days, especially as the matter is now being seen as a tug of war between the Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and the Prime Minister's Office.
"I will not say anything on the reservation issue," Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj said.
But, as protests against OBC reservations spread, the minister who ignited the debate is now keen to allow the reservation issue to simmer across the political spectrum.
“I have said what I had to say. Now, whatever I have to say will be in Parliament,” Singh said.
For 77-year-old Singh, the reservation issue has provided him an opportunity to boost his own stature within the UPA.
Singh knows that no senior politician would like to be seen as anti-reservation in public. Hence, he is counting on backward caste ministers like RJD chief Laloo Yadav to back him.
“There should be another ten per cent reservations for the poor among the upper caste,” Yadav said.
The pro-reservation lobby is also gearing up now. A meeting of all the OBC MP's has been called on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
“Sam Pitroda knows a lot about engineering but very little about social engineering,” JD(U) President, Sharad Yadav said.
The high-pitched campaign has the PMO in a bind.
Following the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs meeting on Monday, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "CCPA met and reviewed the full situation including the agitation. We will ensure a mechanism which would keep the interests of all students of the society. Full details are being worked out and will be announced shortly."
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh looks for a way out that would leave his image within the middle classes untouched, sources have told CNN-IBN that a committee or a group of ministers could now be appointed to look into the whole issue.
However, till then, deferring a confrontation seems to be the only way out.
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