A key meeting of the Congress party will seek the views of the CM-state leaders of the party on the issue of SC-ST sub-division.

Top Congress leaders on Tuesday met to decide on the party's stand on the issue in view of the Supreme Court's verdict allowing states to subdivide reservation within Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). The important meeting took place at the residence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Jairam Ramesh said after the meeting that the Congress will clarify its position in the next few days. He also said that Congress and Rahul Gandhi have been saying since the election period that caste census should be conducted immediately in the country. Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and many senior leaders attended the meeting held at the party's President Kharge's residence. The position will be decided in the next 2-3 weeks: Ramesh After the meeting, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “There was a deep discussion on allocation within quota. Following this, Congress president Kharge will soon talk to party-ruling state chief ministers and state Congress committee leaders on the matter. The party will decide its stand in the next 2-3 weeks,” he said. Ramesh also said that the need for caste census was emphasized in this meeting. Former Union Minister Ramesh said, “For the past few months, Rahul Gandhi has been continuously demanding that a castiwari census be conducted. The Congress election campaign also promised that if we come to power, we will conduct a caste census in the country. It was again discussed in the meeting that it is necessary to conduct a caste-wise census. Jairam Ramesh said that the Congress is in favor of scrapping the reservation cap, while it is the Congress's stand that a constitutional amendment should be made to scrap the 50 percent reservation. Earlier, in a majority judgment on Thursday last week, the Supreme Court had said that states have the right to make sub-classifications in the reservation prescribed for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the betterment of Scheduled Castes. A 7-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud ruled by a majority of 6-1 that states can be given the right to sub-category into SC and ST. This will ensure that more reservation is given to these groups.