The Congress party will bring back the four per cent reservations for Muslims, scrapped recently by the BJP government in the state, if it comes back to power in Karnataka, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday. Shah said that the saffron party has worked hard for the state and cited the measure to bring the Lingayat and the Vokkaligas communities under the reservation ambit.
He said that former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai have done a lot of work for the state and the BJP government has ended four per cent Muslim reservation and increased the quota for Vokkaligas, Lingayats, and SC/STs.
“If Congress comes to power, they will take back all these reservations (hiked) and once again bring in Muslim reservations. Do you want four per cent Muslim reservation? (to come back)”, he asked, during a roadshow at Tiptur Assembly in Tumkur district.
Shah appealed to people to vote for the party to ensure that a “double engine government” under the leadership of Modi comes to power.
The home minister has been holding multiple roadshows in the poll-bound state, where voting is scheduled on May 10, and counting of votes will be on May 13. He also held a roadshow in Ranibennur.
Earlier in the day, the ruling BJP released its manifesto for Karnataka Assembly polls at an event in Bengaluru, making 16 promises in its vision document which included the promise of the implementation of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Karnataka based on the recommendations given by a high-level committee.
The party also promised to launch the ‘Poshana’ (nutrition) scheme through which every BPL household will be provided with half litre Nandini milk every day and 5 kg Shri Anna-siri dhanya (millets) through monthly ration kits, as well as provision of three free cooking gas cylinders to all BPL (Below Poverty Level) families annually.
The manifesto or the vision document was released by the BJP’s national president JP Nadda in the presence of Bommai and his predecessor and Lingayat stalwart BS Yediyurappa, who has retired from electoral politics.
Earlier on April 29, while addressing a rally in Udupi, Amit Shah said attacked Congress and said, “For 70 years, the Congress party was stuck on the question of Ram Mandir, hanging it, misleading it. As soon as the judgment of the court came, he did the work of laying the foundation of the Ram temple.”
The Union home minister further asserted that the construction work of the Ram Mandir temple will be completed in the year 2024.