Patna, Dec 18 (IANS): Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP C.P. Thakur on Sunday demanded reservation for poor among the upper caste, citing the Madras High Court's December 11 in which it favoured reservation for this section.

"Poor are poor, whether they belongs to the upper caste or backward caste. Such people should be provided reservation," he said here.

The former Union Minister said the poor from other backward classes should be given reservation to help them to join the mainstream, and similarly, poor belonging to upper castes should not be neglected and should be provided reservation.

But Thakur said reservation is not an answer to development and growth of the country, and termed wrong Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision of reservation in appointment through outsourcing. He also opposed demand for reservation in private sector.

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party after he again joined hands with it and formed a government last July, after ditching the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress with whom he had fought the elections.