The BJP-led Centre’s decision to introduce reservation based on economic criteria was taken with an eye on the Lok Sabha election, Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and AIADMK leader M. Thambi Durai said here on Wednesday.

He told reporters that the move to introduce 10% reservation for people from the economically weaker sections must be condemned. The government tabled the Bill (The Lok Sabha has since passed it) with an eye on the election and was trying to play vote-bank politics, he alleged.

“The move will benefit only the rich. There will be more corruption, and even the framers of the Constitution like Ambedkar were not for economic reservation,” he said.

The AIADMK was opposed to economic reservation, and if the Lok Sabha Speaker had not suspended the AIADMK MPs, things would have been different in the House, he said.

On alliance

In response to a question on the AIADMK’s alleged tie-up with the BJP, Mr. Thambi Durai said the State government's relationship with the Centre should not be misconstrued as a political alliance. The State government supported a few of the Centre’s schemes, keeping in mind the welfare of Tamil Nadu. As a party, the AIADMK was ideologically opposed to the BJP and had even criticised several of its policies, he said.

He said the AIADMK was a united force, and that his comments on the Centre were that of the CM and the Deputy CM and as good as the party’s official stand.

To the allegation that the BJP was remote-controlling the State government, he said, “When the people of the State run the government, how would the BJP be able to control it?”