Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Congress on Friday distanced itself from the promise of Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid to provide 9 per cent sub quota for Muslims under the OBC category.
Addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said providing 9 per cent quota to OBC Muslims might be an individual view of the law minister.
The move has possibly been taken as the Congress has got feedback hinting that Muslim votes are not coming its way and the quota move may backfire as the Opposition has been campaigning that the proposal would lead to lack of opportunity for other OBCs.
Meanwhile, an internal survey of the Congress has revealed that Muslims votes are divided between it and the Samajwadi Party, and the swing is not in its favour as much as it would want it to be.
The statement from the Congress came hours after senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley slammed the party over the issue, calling it the divisive and minority appeasement policy of the party.
"Congress has started a divisive agenda to divide the society. The society will have to pay a heavy cost for the divisive agenda taken by the Congress in UP," he said.
He attacked the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party too saying that the two parties could not oppose the Congress' "divisive agenda" openly and were secretly supporting it.
"The other two parties in Uttar Pradesh - SP and BSP - cannot oppose the Congress' divisive agenda openly and are supporting it. The BJP openly opposes sub quota on lines of religion for vote bank politics."
However, Khurshid is learned to have replied to the EC notice against the alleged violations of code of conduct.
Meanwhile, the Congress also distanced itself from party general Digvijaya Singh over his remarks on the Batla House encounter, calling it fake.
Alvi said that the party supported the stand of the government on the issue.
"Batla House incident is a sensitive issue and our party's stand is clear," said Alvi.
Talking to mediapersons in Azamgarh, Digvijaya had said that he believed that the encounter was not genuine, but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambaram were not of that opinion and did not support an enquiry into the issue.
The home minister, however, on Thursday dismissed his remarks, saying that the encounter absolutely genuine.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
