Bhubaneswar: BJP is committed to providing 11.25% reservation for socially and educationally backward classes (SEBC) in medical and technical institutions across the state, marking a significant step towards fulfilling a pre-election promise, party’s state unit president Manmohan Samal said here on Tuesday.Addressing a news conference, Samal said the govt would soon decide on expanding the reservation benefits after it approved a similar quota for admission in general undergraduate and postgraduate courses on May 14. “This is just the beginning of our commitment to ensuring constitutional rights for backward classes,” Samal said, while criticising the stance of opposition parties on backward classes’ welfare.Samal accused both BJD and Congress of neglecting backward classes during their respective tenures. He particularly questioned BJD’s handling of a 2017 Supreme Court case regarding the 50% reservation cap, stating, “While the BJD govt spent crores on lawyers for mining cases, they remained silent on OBC reservation matters.”Samal’s statement comes a day before BJD plans a demonstration demanding 27% reservation of seats for the SEBC students. Samal said though there is a provision of a 27% quota for other backward classes (OBCs) nationally, the 11.25% cap has been set in Odisha, complying with the SC guidelines under which the overall quota can’t exceed 50%, and the state already has a 38.75% quota for SCs and STs together.Samal said the BJP will fulfil all its manifesto promises. “While 11 of the 21 promises were fulfilled, the remaining 10 will be done within another six months,” he said. On the BJP promise of returning chit fund money to duped investors, Samal said the process is very much on, and the same would be definitely provided to 100% of the investors. He blamed the previous BJD govt for the delay, claiming crucial papers were misplaced.Responding to Samal’s statement on the reservation for backward classes, BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said the BJP has responded to BJD’s demand for this quota, which is a welcome move. “However, BJP has been traditionally opposed to backward classes’ interests since the Mandal Commission days in the 1990s. Only time will tell if they will walk the talk,” he said. Former Union minister and Congress member Srikant Jena said the quota for backward classes should be a minimum of 27% both in education and jobs. “The govt should approach the SC and convince it of the situation in Odisha, which has a high percentage of SC, ST and backward class population,” he said.On Samal’s promise to return chit fund money, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said the BJP has already failed as it promised to return the money within days of forming the govt. “The BJP chief is trying to mislead people by passing the blame onto BJD,” he said.