Salman Khurshid in trouble over Muslim quota speech

The Election Commission is all set, sources say, to issue a notice to Law Minister Salman Khurshid for making an announcement on the Muslim quota during a campaign speech in election-bound Uttar Pradesh. The BJP met the commission this morning to complain against Mr Khurshid for what it called a "poll violation."

Sources said the panel would issue a notice and then await the Law Minister's response before taking a decision on further action. That action could be a reprimand, at most.

Mr Khurshid had, in a speech in Farrukhabad, where his wife  Louise Khurshid is contesting for the UP Assembly, said that the Congress would provide for 9 per cent reservation for backward Muslims in the state if voted to power.

The Congress-led UPA government announced a 4.5 per cent share for minorities within the existing 27 per cent reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) last month, just in time to beat the model code of conduct that set in with the announcement of the dates of elections in five states, including crucial Uttar Pradesh, which votes in seven phases beginning early February.

The Congress is strategically playing the Muslim card, with general secretary Rahul Gandhi attacking both BSP leader and Chief Minister Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party at a rally in Ballia today, saying none of them had brought a quota for Muslims as the Congress did. Mr Gandhi next heads to Azamgarh, a Muslim stronghold.

The BJP has been crying foul saying the Congress' move to provide reservation for Muslims in Uttar Pradesh is "unconstitutional" and the party should be penalised for it.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said his party would not accept religion-based reservation. The Congress he said was indulging in "divide and rule" and the BJP would "not let its conspiracy against the poorest of poor backward people succeed."