BJP president Venkaiah Naidu on upper caste reservations.

The Congress has stolen a march over the BJP by being the first to demand quotas for the upper castes.
If the Congress is so keen on it, they should have done it 55 years ago. We first raised this demand and passed a resolution in 1984. At that time there was no election and no agitation. Now, there is a craze for reservation in the country. They (the Congress) are responding to an agitation because elections are coming.

The Congress says that by setting up a national commission to examine the merits of upper caste quotas, instead of bringing a constitutional amendment bill, you are dilly-dallying.
It is easy to make demands. But this is a highly complex issue. The distribution of upper castes across the country varies. There are literally hundreds of sub-castes. We also have to keep in mind the Supreme Court judgement on the issue. That is why we don't want to rush into a constitutional amendment. The commission will examine the merits and also the nitty-gritties of implementation.

The Constitution says reservation is meant for the socially deprived, not for the poor. Doesn't this proposal go against the spirit of social justice through reservation and isn't alleviating poverty the government's job?
Yes, it is. At the same time, there is a strong feeling among the upper castes in the entire country that they are not able to send their children to school because of financial backwardness. It is not a political issue. That is why reservation will be for education and jobs and not for political posts.

With governments downsizing and the public sector being privatised, the job pool is shrinking. So isn't the reservation principle being progressively diluted?
There is reservation in jobs. Jobs can't be created for reservation. However, we have called for a nationwide debate on reservation in the privatised public sector, because public money is involved.

There's a demand for separate categories of OBCs in Rajasthan, on the grounds that the Jats have cornered the entire quota in the state.
I cannot comment on a specific state. In principle, there has to be categorisation.