Reservation given earlier to Muslim community continued in Karnataka: CM Siddaramaiah

Bidar, April 25 (IANS) Reacting to the charges levelled by the BJP that the Congress is taking away the reservation of SCs-STs and giving it to the Muslims in Karnataka, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah claimed on Thursday that the 4 per cent quota which existed earlier for the Muslims has been continued in the southern state.

Speaking to reporters in Bidar, CM Siddaramaiah stated that as per the report of the Chinnappa Reddy Commission, the 4 per cent reservation for the Muslim community was implemented from 1994. It was withdrawn during the tenure of the previous BJP government headed by then CM Basavaraj Bommai.

Questioning it, this class went to the Supreme Court. During that time, the BJP government had given an undertaking that the 4 per cent reservation would be continued and that reservation is continuing in the present day as well, the CM stated.

On the criticism by the BJP that the Congress is trying to snatch property from the people and redistribute it, CM Siddaramaiah without answering that asked has Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled all his assurances? Was he able to deposit Rs 15 lakh in everyone’s bank account? Create 2 crore jobs? Has the promise of doubling the income of farmers been fulfilled? Has he been able to bring down inflation?

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi charged on Thursday that the Congress is all set to take away the reservation of Dalits under the Other Backward Communities (OBC) and give it to the Muslims.

Joshi slammed the Congress leaders for injustice to Dalits only for appeasing the Muslims. The Congress has insulted Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Babu Jagjivan Ram and is doing opportunistic politics.

The religion-based ‘reservation push’ in Congress-ruled Karnataka had come under the lens of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), as it had red-flagged its reservation policy, observing that "categorising the whole Muslim population as a backward caste for reservation" will take away the rights of the Other Backward Classes. The development has stoked a controversy in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The NCBC had taken strong objection to the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government’s reservation policy for admission in educational institutions and appointment in state government jobs, saying that carving out a quota for Muslims within the OBC category will rob the rights of the deserving candidates from the backward classes to get the benefits of reservation.

This had come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi denounced the Congress at a rally in Rajasthan on Sunday, claiming that the party will snatch the wealth and ornaments of the public and redistribute them among the 'infiltrators' if voted to power.