Click to play videoNew Delhi: Almost 24 hours after the Cabinet passed the OBC reservation Bill, the first official confirmation that the creamy layer will get the benefits of quota came from the LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan.
"I am officially stating that the creamy layer will not be excluded from the benefits of quota," Paswan said.
But it is now clear that behind the confidence has been hectic politicking. CNN-IBN learnt that the definition of OBCs in the draft bill that was put up before the Cabinet excluded the rich among the OBCs from the benefits of quota.
Southern allies of the UPA - the DMK and PMK - protested. They want the creamy layer to enjoy the benefits of quota.
At the two hour long meeting, the Science and Technology minister Kapil Sibal is also believed to have cited the 1994 Indira Sawhney judgment.
The SC observed then that the creamy layer among the backward classes should be excluded.
The judgment came when the Mandal Commission report first implemented in 1989 was challenged in the apex court.
Thereafter, the government through a department of personnel memorandum fixed the criteria for the exclusion of the creamy layer from the benefits of quota in government jobs.
It's clear there has been a give and take. In exchange of staggered implementation, the Prime Minister agreed not to exclude the creamy layer from the benefits of reservation.
But the problem may not be over. The Left allies do not agree with the Governments approach.
"There must be some economic criteria amongst the OBCs for which the reservation benefit should go to the most deserved," says CPM leader, Sitaram Yechury.
With discordant notes still coming in, the Bill after its introduction in the current session will be sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. However, the Prime Minister's Office, at least for the moment, can breathe easy.
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