BJP targets Congress over its quota stand in Karnataka

PTI, Apr 18, 2023, 8:55 AM IST

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Monday accused the Congress and the JD(S) of joining hands by promising to reverse the Karnataka government order to scrap the four per cent quota for Muslims to deny benefits given to Vokkaligas, Lingayats as well as SCs and STs.

Describing the Janata Dal (Secular) as the B-team of the Congress, he said on Twitter that the BJP will stand strongly with these communities and will make sure it is with them for their progress.

He used the hashtag “anti-Hindu Congress” to target the opposition party.

While Karnataka Congress leaders want to reverse reservation, Rahul Gandhi “dropped” into Karnataka and said he wants to breach the Supreme Court limit on reservations, the BJP MP from the state tweeted.

“So the Congress politics of lies and promise and scoot politics continues. That is why voters chose BJP bcoz we deliver what we promise,” he said.

BJP I-T department head Amit Malviya alleged that Gandhi is being “disingenuous” with his claim on the issue of social justice when the erstwhile Siddaramaiah-led Congress government did nothing to address long-pending demands of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

“On the contrary, the BJP, in a series of steps since Oct 2022 did everything to empower them. The BJP government ensured reservation for SCs (17%, up from 15% earlier) and STs (7%, up from 3% earlier) was hiked in proportion to their population,” he said.

In March 2023, he added, the BJP ensured sub-categorisation of the SC quota, a long-pending demand “Siddaramaiah slept over when in office”.

“In addition, BJP removed the blatantly unconstitutional and communal religion based quota of 4% for Muslims and redistributed it between the agricultural communities represented by the Lingayats (their share went up from 5 to 7% under 2D)and Vokkaligas (from 4 to 6% under 2C),” Malviya said.

Gandhi has pitched for reservation in line with population as he demanded the release of the caste census which, he said, was done during the UPA government. He has also called for lifting the reservation cap.