Patna, Sept 7: In what could be a bid to dent the upper caste voter base of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Bihar unit of Congress has demanded 10 per cent reservation for the general category of the populace.

The party sources, while speaking to reporters, said they would pitch for a reservation formula for the forward castes which would not tinker with the quota guaranteed in educational institutions and government jobs for the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.

The Congress had earlier too expressed its openness to the idea of reservation for the upper castes. In 2004, the party manifesto said it would consider the idea of allocating a quota for the forward caste in education and jobs.

The upper caste quota pitch, however, could antagonise the Congress among the backward and depressed castes. The party has so far been accusing the ruling BJP of being "anti-SC/ST" and "anti-OBC".

Notably, in Bihar, the upper-castes were the traditional vote bank of the Congress till the Mandir and Mandal politics of the late 80s' and early 90s'. Over the past three decades, the staunch forward castes voter base has shifted en masse to the BJP.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 07, 2018 03:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).