Govt's lateral entry U-turn due to criticism by Leaders of Opposition in Parliament, says Congress

On Sunday night Rahul Gandhi said the government is "attacking the Constitution by recruiting public servants through the RSS instead of the UPSC".

The Congress on Tuesday claimed that the government's  move to withdraw the latest advertisement for lateral entry in bureaucracy was due to the criticism by the Leaders of the Opposition in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge -- along with others.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi  said the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the BJP.

"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," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. "I am saying it again - by removing the 50 per cent reservation cap, we will ensure social justice based on caste census," the former Congress chief said.

Under heat from some of the NDA partners and as well as the Opposition, the Union government has withdrawn its controversial advertisement for lateral entry to various senior positions in the government

Earlier today, Union minister Jitendra Singh on wrote to the chairperson Union Public Service Commission (UPSCC) on cancelling the lateral entry advertisement as per directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Two prominent BJP allies from Bihar – the Janata Dal (United) and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) – have opposed Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) decision to fill 45 government posts through lateral entry.

The UPSC, on August 18, advertised 45 posts to be filled through the lateral entry mode on a contract basis. Earlier this month, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha that as many as 63 appointments have been made through lateral entry in the last five years.

The move was critisised by opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi who called it an ‘attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis’. In response, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal slammed Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, by reminding him that former prime minister Manmohan Singh was made the finance secretary in 1976 through the lateral entry route.

On Sunday night Rahul Gandhi said the government is "attacking the Constitution by recruiting public servants through the RSS instead of the UPSC". He claimed the government is "recruiting for important posts in central government through lateral entry" and that this meant "reservation (for) SC, ST, and OBC classes being openly snatched away".