BJP asks PM to break silence on minority quota row

Varanasi, Feb 13 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday hit out at the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre for not taking any action against Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid, and appealed to the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to break his silence on the matter.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said Khurshid was trying to woo the Muslim voters with illegal promises during his election speeches.

"Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, who is the prime minister of India are silent on the matter. If no enquiry is done, then this would turn out to be a serious issue," Prasad told the media here.

"I have already said before that this thing has happened for the first time after the independence that election commission had said something like this and written a letter to the President of India saying that the law minister is openly challenging the election commission and if no inquiry is done in this regard then this would be very unfortunate for the people of this nation and it will be akin to a constitutional crisis," he added.

Prasad further asked the political parties in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh to not to resort to populist announcements, and urged them to maintain a level playing field.

"You should refrain from acts that would favour you in the elections. There should be a level playing field in the elections. Every government has a right to make announcements but once model code of conduct is implemented then you can not make such announcements because you cannot take poll benefits by making announcements," 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. (ANI)