The Congress on Monday kept its guns trained on the lateral-entry policy of the government, seeing it as further evidence of a systematic and multi-pronged effort by the Modi dispensation to do away with reservations by a "thousand cuts".

The Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, and the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, weighed in on the issue again, viewing the policy not just in isolation but as a key component of a larger plan to take away reservations.

In a post on X, Kharge said: "Instead of filling jobs in government departments, the BJP has eliminated 5.1 lakh posts in the last 10 years by selling off government of India's shares in PSUs alone. There has been an increase of 91 per cent in casual and contract recruitment. SC, ST, OBC posts have been reduced by 1.3 lakh by 2022-23."

Referring to the government’s counter that the policy was brought in by the UPA government, Kharge said: "We brought in a select group of lateral-entry specialists and experts to place them in certain sector-specific positions as per their fitment. But the Modi government has made the provision of lateral entry not to appoint experts in the government but to snatch the rights of Dalits, tribals and backward classes. The posts of SC, ST, OBC, EWS will now be given to people of RSS. This is the BJP's Chakravyuh to change the Constitution by snatching away reservation."