Congress gave OBC's reservation share to Muslims in Karnataka: PM Modi

Bhopal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Congress gave to Muslim community around 15 per cent of the reservation quota after having ‘snatched' it from the OBCs in Karnataka to save vote bank.

Modi told a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar Lok Sabha constituency that the Congress has cheated a large section of the people.

In continuation of his speeches with misleading narratives about the acts of previous Congress governments and Congress' election manifesto,Modi said, "Around 15 per cent reservation quota of the OBCs was given to Muslims in Karnataka. Congress is setting a wrong precedent by giving reservations based on religion. Founder-members of our Constitution had opposed the idea of reservations on the basis of religion".

PM Modi further said the Congress has been pushing for reservations based on religion for the last several years and they had mentioned it in their election manifestos in 2009 and 2014.

"The Congress wants to snatch SC/ST and OBC quota. The party wants to give it to Muslims to settle its vote bank. Congress wants to impose an inheritance tax on private properties, and their wrong intention was exposed again," he said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah immediately hit back saying that PM Modi was stating a ‘lie’ from his ‘ignorance’.

In a press release, according to the Hindu, Siddaramaiah added that Muslim in the state are part of 2B in backward classes reservation as per Chinnappa Reddy Commission recommendation.

Adding further, he said the reservation has been around for the past three decades and no one including the BJP questioned it.

"The Prime Minister seems to have forgotten the rap by the Supreme Court to the Basavaraj Bommai government that tried to tinker with it for dividing votes on communal lines. The court has struck down dividing 4 % reservation of Muslims among Vokkaligas and Lingayats. Unfortunately, this is not in his knowledge,” he was quoted as stating.

Siddaramaiah also asked where his party promised to give reservation to Muslims at the cost of SCs/OBCs, adding ‘The reservation can be provided only according to Constitution and based on socio-economic survey.’

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful of repeating its impressive performance in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls this time as well in Madhya Pradesh.

In the 2014 general elections, the BJP won 27 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the central Indian state while in 2019, it bagged 28 seats.

IANS with inputs from The Hindu