New Delhi: Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has come out in support of the Centre’s lateral entry scheme, calling it an “indispensable method for the government to acquire expertise”, even as his party has launched a scathing attack against it.
“My position on lateral entry is that it is an indispensable method for the government to acquire expertise which it otherwise lacks, in specific areas of specialisation for which there are no qualified persons already in government service,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP wrote on X Monday. “In the short term, it remains unavoidable. In the long-term, what is needed is for government officers, recruited under the existing rules, including applicable reservations, to be trained in the necessary specialisations needed by the government.”
Tharoor’s support for the lateral entry scheme comes at a time when his party has strongly criticised it for the lack of reservation in appointments made through it. Opposing the scheme, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi Monday said, “Lateral entry is an attack on Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. BJP’s distorted version of Ram Rajya seeks to destroy the Constitution and snatch reservations from Bahujans.”
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, in a post on X Saturday, too criticised the scheme saying, “BJP, which has ripped apart the Constitution, has made a double attack on reservation! Under a well-planned conspiracy, the BJP is deliberately making such recruitments in jobs so that SC, ST, OBC classes can be kept away from reservation.”
Asked about the contradiction between his and his party’s stand, Tharoor told ThePrint, “My logic is very clear that lateral entry has to be temporary until expertise is developed within the government.”
However, lateral entry should be resorted to only when specialisations are required, and not for roles that can be performed by IAS officers who have worked in the system for many years, he said. “It is not clear if all the positions announced by the government require that degree of specialisation that they cannot be filled by IAS officers,” he added.
“To my mind, it is for organisations like the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) that the government should bring in archaeologists from outside, or an area specialist for the Ministry of External Affairs, or experts on pharmacology for the Department of Pharmaceuticals, for instance,” Tharoor said.
In an advertisement released Saturday, the Centre sought applications for lateral entry against 45 posts of joint secretary, director, and deputy secretary in 24 Central ministries — the largest number since the launch of the lateral entry scheme in 2018.
The announcement has created a political stir with at least two NDA partners — the Janata Dal (United) and Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) — joining the Opposition ranks to oppose the scheme for circumventing reservations in government appointments.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhari)