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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a poll rally at Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh today, promising to remove the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent cap on caste-based reservation and increase quota benefits for people from Dalit, backward and tribal communities.
Gandhi said this election is being fought to save the Constitution, which has given rights to water, forest, and land, and that the BJP and RSS want to change it.
He accused the BJP of planning to remove reservation and said that the Congress will increase it beyond the 50 per cent cap.
Gandhi's remarks come amid a high-pitched campaign for the Lok Sabha polls and heated exchanges between the NDA and the INDIA bloc on reservation.
The BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has alleged that the Congress plans to tinker with the reservation for backward classes to benefit Muslims.
The Congress has denied the allegations.
At a rally in Gujarat Banaskantha, the Prime Minister said, \"I challenge the 'shehzada' of the Congress as well as his party and its supporters to announce they will never misuse reservation in the name of religion, nor will they play with the Constitution or grant reservation in the name of religion.\"
At the Ratlam rally, Gandhi said the media does not show news related to atrocities on Adivasis and that there are no Adivasis in these media companies.
He said 90 bureaucrats run the country's government and that only 1 out of the 90 is an Adivasis, three are from backward classes, and three from the Dalit community.
Gandhi also assured farmers relief in the form of assured MSP and loan waivers.
Ratlam votes on May 13 in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election.
The Congress has fielded former MP and former Union Minister Kantilal Bhuria.
Anita Nagar Singh Chauhan is the BJP's pick from the seat they won in the 2019 election.
Source: "Will Remove 50% Cap, Give As Much Reservation As Needed": Rahul Gandhi