Friday, May 19 2006 11:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Facing mounting protests, Government yesterday (May 18, 2006) began formal talks with striking medicos assuring them that the seats in the general category will not not come down due to reservation as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh plans to begin consultations with political parties from Monday.

With a political problem glaring at its face, the Congress Working Committee is meeting on May 20 to discuss the issue in a move seen as attempts to guide the government. Several partners of the coalition has are favouring immediate implementation of the reservation policy.

On a hectic day on the reservation front, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met a delegation of CPI leaders and told them that the government was committed to the proposed reservation but told them that there were 'apprehensions' among some sections and we have to find a way out.

The group of ministers headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee today held its first meeting with medical students striking against a proposal reserving seats for backward classes in elite educational institutions and central universities.

The students were told by the Committee that a mechanism was being worked out by which the number of seats in the general category would not not come down with the implementation of the new reservation policy.