Gujarat polls: Congress offers Patidar community 3 options for quota

Congress gave three options to the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) at a late night meeting here with respect to latter's quota demand for its community, even as the organisation members said they would consult their leaders and legal experts before taking a decision.

The options were conveyed to the PASS members by senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal at the meeting which took place at 11:30 PM and ended at about 2 AM.

"We have been given three options by the Congress party on how to provide reservation to our community in educational institutions and government jobs," PAAS convener Dinesh Bambhania said after the meeting.

He, however, did not divulge the details of the options.

"The options that have been given will be kept confidential till we discuss it with Hardik, social leaders of the community, legal experts and then it would be kept before our community. If the community accepts the demand, we will convey it accordingly to the Congress party," Bambhania said.

He said, "The Congress proposal has not touched 49 per cent reservations for SC, ST and OBC which exists in the state. The options that have been given are over and above it."

READ MORE

INX media case: Karti is not a 'fugitive of justice', lawyer Sibal tells SC

In a hearing of the INX media case on Tuesday, Karti Chidambaram's lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that the former is not a "fugitive of justice".

The case against Karti, which pertains to allege that he illegally took service charges for getting the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving funds from abroad worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father P. Chidambaram was the finance minister in Congress-led United Progressive Alliance's rule, was heard by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
Arguing in the court against the lookout notice used by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which prevents Karti from travelling outside India, Sibal told that though Karti went abroad but he came back to India again.

Sibal told the court that the Centre had pressurised the foreign bank to close Karti's account in United Kingdom, so he had to take money out of it during his last visit to the country.

The senior lawyer further argued that there is just an FIR against karti in the INX media case and nothing has been proved against him yet.

Denying Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) allegation of multiple foreign bank accounts, Karti earlier told the Supreme Court that he had only one account in the United Kingdom's Metro Bank and one property in that country.
READ MORE