NEW DELHI: Congress rubbished as “brazen lies” BJP’s allegations that Karnataka govt has given reservation on religious grounds, with the party filing privilege motions against senior ministers J P Nadda and Kiren Rijiju in RS and deputy CM D K Shivakumar denying he ever spoke about changing the Constitution. The controversy triggered by BJP functionaries disrupted Parliament’s proceedings. Congress said the quotas in Karnataka are given on the basis of backwardness.
AICC president and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge alleged BJP cooked up the claim as part of a “conspiracy” to avoid a discussion in Parliament about corruption in judiciary, alluding to the discovery of cash haul at the residence of Delhi HC justice Yashwant Verma. Kharge said none of the Congress functionaries have spoken about changing the Constitution, which is the dream of BJP and RSS.
Congress chief whip Jairam Ramesh filed privilege notices against Nadda and Rijiju for “misleading” the House on alleged statements made by Shivakumar. In a notice to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, he said Nadda’s remarks about Muslim reservation and Shivakumar talking about changing the Constitution are “completely false”. He said Rijiju attributed false statements to Shivakumar which constitutes breach of privilege.
As the row broke out in Parliament on Monday, Shivakumar said BJP and its functionaries were resorting to brazen lies to malign Congress, saying he was not present in the assembly when the discussion on the said reservation bill took place and he had never stated that Constitution will be amended to provide quotas on the basis of religion. Shivakumar said it is BJP which has been opposing the Constitution since it was promulgated while Congress has worked to protect it. “Even till last Parliament, BJP wanted to change the Constitution and was asking for 400 seats to deny rights to poor and underprivileged. To hide their sins, they are now accusing the Congress and me.”
