Chandigarh, Jan 13 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday blamed the ruling Congress Party of playing religion-based divisive politics by providing reservation to minority communities ahead of the state assembly polls.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that the common man would have to face the brunt of the Congress Party's divisive politics.
"Congress has started a divisive agenda in the society. And the manner in which they are trying to implement the divisive agenda in Uttar Pradesh, the society will have to bear its cost," he told the media here.
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had earlier on Thursday refuted the contention that the orders of the Election Commission of India to hold the 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities in five poll-bound states was a setback, and said that the notification will remain operative for appointments and admissions made this year.Chidambaram further said the notification was made well before the election programmes were announced and well before the code of conduct came into force.
Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid had on Monday promised to raise to raise the minority reservation as against the existing quota of 4.5 percent reserved for groups bracketed under other backward classes, if his party is elected to power in Uttar Pradesh.aitley further said that the recent corruption scandals that have come into light against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government would affect its performance during the polls in the five states.
"The kind of accusations that have surfaced against Congress in the recent past are unprecedented. And because of these accusations, supporters have lost faith in the leadership of Congress. This will have a great impact on Congress in the upcoming elections," he said.
Further expressing confidence on the possibility of the BJP returning to power in Punjab, Jaitley said: "It is often believed that when a party rules for five years, and in Punjab, especially, it is a common belief that every time a new party comes into power after elections, as though it was a swinging pendulum."
"Therefore, the parties usually contest elections on the basis of the anti-incumbency factor. However, taking into account the recent political environment in Punjab, it will be for the first time that we will contest on the basis of pro-incumbency factor," he added.
Voting in Uttar Pradesh takes place in seven phases starting from February 4 and finishing February 28. Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur will hold elections between January 28 and March 3. (ANI)
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