The Jharkhand government’s decision of providing 75 per cent reservation to locals in the private sector will also be implemented in the public sector undertakings, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.

Addressing media persons in Ranchi, the senior JMM leader said that the Centre should learn from chief minister Hemant Soren’s “revolutionary” decision of providing 75 per cent reservation to locals of the state in private sector jobs. "Reservation for locals will not only be restricted to the private sector, but also be extended to the public sector undertakings like Central Coalfield (CCL), Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL) and Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) in Jharkhand,” said Bhattacharya.

The PSUs mentioned by Bhattacharya are all run by the Union government and recruitments for these companies are also done pan-India without state-specific reservations. In order to make changes in the recruitment rules for the companies, the state government will have to send a proposal to the Centre.

Asking the Centre to learn from Hemant, Bhattacharya said that the state government’s decision of providing unemployment allowance to youths at a time when people were losing jobs across the country was a “masterstroke”.

Bhattacharya also slammed the Centre for rising prices of crude oil and the growing rate of unemployment in the country. Taking a jibe at the ruling BJP, the JMM leader said, “BJP’s GDP – Gas, Diesel, Petrol – has been skyrocketing,” referring to the hike in the price of LPG, diesel and petrol.

Talking about the West Bengal and Assam elections, Bhattacharya said JMM would extend support to Trinamool Congress in Bengal and the Congress in Assam. The party had earlier decided to contest Assembly seats in West Bengal, but seeing the polarisation of voters in the neighbouring state, it decided to support TMC in order to defeat the BJP, he added.