Salman Khurshid denies putting PM in trouble with his minority quota statement

Rae Bareli, Feb 13 (ANI): Facing the heat over his recent statement on minority quotas, Union Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid has gone on the back foot and said that his remarks have not put the central leadership in trouble.

Khurshid on Sunday tried dodging questions from journalists while reiterating that his statement had not put Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a sticky position.

"No. There is no controversy, no unending feud, nothing at all. There may be differences, there may be different points of view, but there are no differences," he said.

During a recent poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Khurshid had promised that if the Congress party was voted to power in the state, the sub-quota for Muslims would be increased to nine per cent within the 27 per cent reservation meant for Other Backward Classes (OBC).

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) slapped Khurshid with a notice, saying his remarks had violated the model code of conduct.

The Election Commission sought the "immediate and decisive" intervention of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil after it charged Khurshid with "improper and unlawful" defiance of its orders under which he was censured for promising sub-quota for minorities.

President Patil has sent Election Commission's complaint against Salman Khurshid to Prime Minister's Office for appropriate action.

Extending quotas in government jobs and educational institutes to backward minorities was being projected as a key initiative of the Congress-led UPA coalition ahead of the 2012 assembly polls in Pradesh, which has a substantial Muslim population. (ANI)