Eyebrows Raised As MP Govt Hires DMK Lawyer To Fight Its OBC Quota Case

In an interesting twist, the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh government has appointed DMK lawyer P Wilson in a OBC quota case before the Supreme Court. Wilson is presently Rajya Sabha MP of the DMK. An additional solicitor general of the UPA government, he apparently got another term in the RS from the DMK after his successful legal battle questioning powers of the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. BJP circles were quite puzzled that the MP government should opt for a DMK counsel. The buzz is Wilson was not the direct pick of the MP government. Apparently, chief minister Mohan Yadav had requested the OBC Mahasabha to suggest a name for legal representation. The Mahasabha had recommended Wilson. The OBC Mahasabha filed an affidavit in the SC last week ahead of the regular hearing on the implementation of 27% OBC reservation and unfreezing of 13% reserved posts in MP. The SC is scheduled start regular hearing on OBC quota next week.CM Mohan Yadav had earlier convened an all-party meeting on August 28, where there was unanimous political support for the 27% OBC quota. The quota for OBCs in MP was raised from 14% to 27% through an ordinance by the previous Congress government under Kamal Nath, which ruled from December 2018 to March 2020. OBCs make up 51.8% of the state’s population. Choice of advocate P Wilson is interesting, considering he comes from TN where reservation for OBCs is 69% and was placed under 9th Schedule — that is cannot be challenged — due to efforts of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa. Wilson as a lawyer for the MP government has set off a political buzz that perhaps a loose alliance of sorts is being worked out between the DMK-TVK and the BJP.