The Chief Minister of Karnataka said: The Karnataka government is once again doing politics on Muslim reservation. The Siddaramaiah government has expressed his desire to give four percent reservation to Muslims in government contracts. This reservation will be implemented under the amendment to the Karnataka Public Purchase Transparency Act. A year ago, such a resolution could not be implemented due to allegations of controversy and appeasement politics. But now they are going to implement it again.
The BJP opposed the Muslim reservation proposal, calling it a politics of appeasement, while the Congress has described it as a move to socially just justice to backward communities. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has planned to gather support from non-Hindus (minorities, backward and downtrodden) on the basis of Muslim reservation. These communities have been the main vote bank of the Congress. Due to which politics between the Congress and the BJP has become hot on the issue of Muslim reservation.
Siddaramaiah’s big bet on Muslim reservation
The Congress government has planned to provide 4 percent reservation to Muslims in government construction by amending the Karnataka Public Purchase Transparency Act, 1999. The Siddaramaiah government has devised a strategy to bring this amendment to the current budget session of the assembly. Reservation will be implemented only through this. The Finance Department of Karnataka has prepared its blueprint and the Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil has approved the amendment.
24 percent reservation for SC-ST community contractors
So far, 24 percent reservation is available for SC-ST community contractors in Karnataka. Apart from this, there is a provision of 4 percent reservation for OBC Class-1 and 15 percent for OBC Class-2A. In this way, 43 percent reservation is being given in government contracts. If the Siddaramaiah government implements 4 percent reservation for the Muslim community, then the total reservation in government contracts will increase to 47 percent.
Karnataka has a large vote bank of Muslims.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a step to provide reservation to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes contractors in government contracts during his previous term. Earlier this year, the Chief Minister had also arranged for reservation to OBC class in government contracts. Now Siddaramaiah is going to raise the issue of giving 4 percent reservation to the Muslim community in government construction contracts. In this way, a strategy has been chalked out to support the equation of Muslims considered to be the largest vote bank after Dalits and backward in Karnataka. The Congress is calling it social justice, on which the BJP has taken an aggressive stand.
The BJP lodged a protest.
On Muslim reservation, BJP MLA Basangauda Patil Yatanal said that the Congress government in Karnataka is working by focusing on minority appeasement. This type of reservation is unconstitutional. BJP MLA Y Bharat Shetty also said that the Congress is trying to please its Muslim vote bank. The law and order of the state has collapsed due to their appeasement politics. Now they are going to destroy it.
