Trouble for India minister after minority speech

New Delhi: The beleaguered federal Law Minister Salman Khurshid could be headed for further trouble with the ruling Congress party distancing itself from the row over the backward minority sub-quota.

Khurshid was issued a ‘show-cause' notice by the Election Commission over a speech in Uttar Pradesh on Monday in which he promised to double the sub-quota for backward minorities from the existing 4.5 per cent.

In his reply to the Election Commission, Khurshid had said it was part of his Congress party's 2009 election manifesto and he had not violated the code of conduct.

The Congress party's surprising decision to distance itself from Khurshid was announced yesterday by the party spokesman Rashid Alvi. It came on the day it came to light that the Election Commission had complained to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for trying to undermine its authority.

Addressing a press conference, Alvi said providing nine per cent sub-quota to other backward classes (OBC) Muslims might be an individual view of the Law Minister.

The Congress party's clarification came within hours of the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley slamming the Congress over the issue, calling it the divisive and minority appeasement policy of the party.

Dramatic developments

"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 Uttar Pradesh," Jaitley said.

In a day of dramatic developments, the Congress party, which had initially supported Khurshid, made a u-turn fearing backlash from OBC who are already unhappy with the federal government's December decision to carve out a 4.5 per cent sub-quota from the existing 27 reservation for OBC in government jobs and educational institutions.

Sources in the Congress party confirmed that they felt that promising an enhanced sub-quota to could cost it the OBC votes, a risk that was not worth taking considering the December decision to extend reservations has already assured it of increased support from the Muslim community, whose support is crucial in its bid to regain power in Uttar Pradesh after more than two decades.

Khurshid, however, remained unfazed and said he had no reasons to regret his statement on the issue.

"No. Why should I regret? You regret when you do something unlawful," he told reporters yesterday.