Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that it was the “ignorance” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he was stating a lie that Congress was trying to provide reservation to Muslims at the cost of SCs/backward classes.
In a release, he said that in Karnataka Muslims are part of 2B in backward classes reservation based on Chinnappa Reddy Commission recommendation. “The reservation has been there for the past three decades. No one, including the BJP, has questioned this in court. 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.” The Chief Minister also sought to know the opinion of former Prime Minister H.D. Devegowda, who claims to have given reservation to Muslims, on the issue.
Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “Where has Congress promised to provide reservation to Muslims at the cost of SCs/OBCs? In which Congress-ruled state has it been done? The reservation can be provided only according to Constitution and based on socio-economic survey.”
