Centre succumbed to ‘PDA’ unity: Akhilesh on govt’s lateral entry U-turn

Lucknow, Aug 20 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday took a swipe at the BJP-led central government over its withdrawal of the latest advertisement for lateral entry into bureaucracy, saying it succumbed to the unity of the ‘PDA’.

Yadav’s “PDA formula” refers to a combination of “Pichde (backward classes), Dalit and Alpasankhyak (minorities)”.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also announced that the SP’s agitation against the lateral recruitment scheduled to begin on October 2 has been postponed.

“The conspiracy of making appointments through the back door of lateral entry in UPSC by rejecting reservations has finally succumbed to the unity of PDA. The government has now had to withdraw this decision as well,” Yadav said in a Hindi post on X.

“The BJP’s conspiracies are not succeeding now, this is a big victory of the awakening and awareness that has come in the PDA,” he added.

In these circumstances, the SP has decided to postpone the agitation against ‘lateral recruitment’ from October 2, and also resolves that it will not allow any such move to succeed in future and will strongly and decisively oppose it, he said in the post.

“The issue of lateral entry has exposed the anti-reservation face of BJP,” Yadav added.

The Centre on Tuesday asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to withdraw the latest advertisement for lateral entry in bureaucracy, amid a row over reservation in the advertised posts.

On August 17, the UPSC issued a notification for recruiting 45 joint secretaries, directors and deputy secretaries through lateral entry, referred to as the appointment of specialists (including those from the private sector) in government departments.

The decision had ignited criticism from opposition parties, which claimed it undermined the reservation rights of OBCs, SCs and STs.