- Raja

Not wanting to upset the Centre's applecart on the quota issue, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), one of the major partners in the UPA alliance, decided on Friday to demand the implementation of the 27% quota, leaving the latest contention, creamy layer, out for now.

Announcing this after an executive committee meeting at Anna Arivalayam, the party headquarters, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and party president M Karunanidhi said the DMK wanted the Supreme Court's verdict on reservation to be implemented in the higher education institutions from this year itself.

The Centre has already made it clear that it is not going to pursue the creamy layer issue any further. The party's decision on creamy layer, admitting the privileged among the backward under OBC quota, would be taken after a discussion with legal experts and leaders of the party subsequently, said M Karunanidhi. This stand of the DMK to set aside the decision on creamy layer is markedly different from that of another UPA ally, PMK, whose leader S Ramadoss on Friday met the Prime Minister to demand that creamy layer should not be excluded.

The priority for the party was to get the reservation implemented before getting into the details, Karunanidhi said. Observers say that the DMK does not want issue to drag further in the courts, and delay the implementation.

The Constitution talks only about social backwardness and the concept of taking economic situation into consideration was opposed even by former prime minister Nehru, he said, adding that the party would consult the lawyers and fight the case legally later.