Centre takes U-turn on lateral entry in bureaucracy

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday claimed that the Centre’s move to withdraw the advertisement for lateral entry in bureaucracy was due to the campaign by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and INDIA bloc parties, and said this shows that only the power of the Constitution can defeat the “arrogance of a dictatorial regime”.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil “conspiracies” of the BJP.

The remarks came after Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh wrote to Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairman Preeti Sudan and asked her to cancel the advertisement so that marginalised communities get their rightful representation in government services.

Reacting to the development, Kharge said, “Long live the Constitution! The Congress party’s fight for social justice for our Dalits, tribals, backward and weaker sections has foiled the BJP’s plans to snatch away reservation.” “Modi government’s letter on lateral entry shows that only the power of the Constitution can defeat the arrogance of a dictatorial regime,” the Congress chief said in a post in Hindi on X.

He said it was due to the campaign run by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress and INDIA bloc parties, that the government has taken a step back. “But as long as the BJP-RSS are in power, it will keep adopting new tactics to snatch away reservation. We all have to be careful,” Kharge said.

“Whether it is the long term capital gain/Indexation attack on the middle class in the budget, or referring the Waqf Bill to JPC, or putting the Broadcast Bill on the back-burner -- the power of the people and the opposition is saving the country from the Modi government,” he said. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said, “We will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs. We will foil the BJP’s conspiracies like that of ‘lateral entry’ at any cost.”