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Accord not against any community in Rajasthan, says BJP leader

JAIPUR: A buoyant Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led Gujjars in Tuesday’s talks with the Rajasthan government on the community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe status, said: “I am grateful to Ramdas Agarwal [BJP national treasurer who headed the government side], Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and others for the outcome [of the negotiations].”

At the end of the talks, both sides announced that they found a solution to the Gujjar issue.

Contrary to Monday’s announcement, Ms. Raje did not join the “final” round, and the BJP leaders had to rush to consult her in between whenever the talks hit turbulence. The talks, which started at 3 p.m. at the Rajasthan Institute of Public Administration continued till 6.30 p.m., when Mr. Agarwal and State BJP president Omprakash Mathur left the venue for Ms. Raje’s residence. Two Ministers involved in the talks — Laxminarayan Dave and Sanwarlal Jat — followed them.

Huge crowds, anxious to know about the talks, waited outside the RIPA campus throughout the day. There was heavy police deployment in the area.

“It was a complicated problem. We found a solution taking into account the interests of the five crore people of Rajasthan,” Mr. Agarwal said, refusing to divulge one bit of information on the agreement. “It is not against any community. We have accommodated the aspirations of all,” he said, hinting that the existing ST quota would not be tampered with.

If it was not ST status, an option was a specific quota to the community under the much talked about “de-notified category,” which the Gujjar leaders were seemingly unwilling to accept. Now indications are that the agreement is on creating a separate category for Gujjars within the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Rambir Singh Bidhuri, one of the negotiators on the Gujjar side, while refusing to disclose the quantum of reservation quota, confirmed as much.

Meenas, opposing ST status to Gujjars, remained restive throughout the day as MLAs from the community in all political parties got together at the residence of the former Minister Kirorilal Meena. Mr. Mathur also met the BJP MLAs belonging to the Meena community at his residence in the morning.

The leaders avoided questions from the media and kept insisting that the agreement would be “declared” after another round of talks starting at 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday.

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