BJP to push for consensus among NDA allies on lateral entry policy

New Delhi: The BJP is likely to call for a meeting of all its NDA partners in a bid to come up with a consensus for the lateral entry policy in government jobs in a new form. The meeting is likely to take place after Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back from the Poland-Ukraine visit.

Sources in the BJP said that the government will call for a meeting of its allies, several of whom were unhappy with the policy, and convince them to build a consensus around the policy. “We will redraw the policy, and ensure that the policy does not leave out any socially backward classes from its ambit. The policy was withdrawn after discussions, and we will bring it back with further discussions,” a general secretary of the party said, adding that the policy will be amended to include a phase on reservation benefits.

The government had announced lateral entry to over 45 key Central government jobs, including positions of joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary across 24 central ministries on August 17. Facing flak from the Opposition and and from its own allies, the government withdrew the policy earlier this week on August 20.

The NDA allies had raised the concerns that the benefits of reservation were not applicable in this case. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President and Union minister Chirag Paswan said that the policy is “completely wrong” and that he will raise the issue before the government.

Another NDA ally, Hindustani Awam Morcha’s Jitan Ram Manjhi also expressed his unhappiness over the policy and said that he would discuss the matter with the government. The JDU also opposed the move.

Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said that the policy was an “attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis”. The government responded saying that the lateral entry policy was brought in during the time of the UPA, and that former PM Dr Manmohan Singh himself was brought in to the system through the policy.