Firing a broadside at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his alleged “OBC insult” for calling “all thieves have Modi as the common surname”, the BJP has intensified its campaign to reach out to one crore OBC households across one lakh villages in the country. The BJP’s “OBC Morcha” will start a campaign between April 6 — the foundation day for the BJP — and April 14 — the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar — to expose the Congress’ anti-OBC stand and also to highlight the “historic” decisions of the Modi Government for the community’s welfare, said Morcha president K Laxman.

He said from giving the constitutional status to the OBC Commission, which was “toothless” in the long rule of the Congress, to giving reservation to the community in educational institutions and filling up thousands of backlog vacancies in universities, the Modi Government has taken many historic decisions to uplift the community.

BJP MPs, mostly from OBC, on Tuesday took out a march from Parliament complex to Vijay Chowk here protesting against Rahul’s remarks and demanded his apology.

The OBCs will help Modi become Prime Minister for a third term after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Laxman asserted, adding that such an atmosphere in the BJP’s favour has rattled the Congress, causing Rahul to heap caste “insults” on the Prime Minister.

Giving a boost to the OBC community, the Centre on Tuesday  also  said the  issue of implementation of OBC reservation in all-India quota seats of State agricultural universities is under examination. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, “The issue of implementation of OBC reservation in All India Quota (AIQ) Seats of State Agricultural Universities is under examination.”

Meanwhile, amid strains in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi alliance over Rahul’s strident criticism of VD Savarkar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar has stepped in to play the peacemaker by conveying Shiv Sena’s concerns on the issue to the Congress leadership.

Opposition leaders said the Congress has agreed to tone down its criticism of Savarkar, which has led to an unease in the NCP and the Shiv Sena (UBT), its alliance partners in Maharashtra.

Former Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said it was unfortunate that Savarkar’s name was being “blackened needlessly” by those who seem to be ignorant of his “matchless sacrifice” during the freedom struggle.