BJP reiterates demand for Salman Khurshid's resignation on minority quota row

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday reiterated its demand for resignation of Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid over the complaint registered by the Election Commission to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on his remarks made during the campaign in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that Khurshid was adamant in his stand and yet to apologise.

"Salman Khurshid is yet to apologies to the Election Commission, he is yet to resign and the Prime Minister is also not dismissing him, this proves the Congress Party's attitude towards Constitutional bodies. And if the Union Law Minister dismisses the law then with what face can they enforce those same laws on the people?" he told the media here.

Javadekar also questioned the silence of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on the matter.

"Now the Presidents office has referred it to the Prime Ministers office, but the Prime Ministers office is on silent mode and we have seen, Prime Ministers office we don't expect anything, because what has happened is, we have seen the PMO defending and the PM himself defending Raja (former Telecom Minister A. Raja) for one full year, only when the court made it impossible, he stopped defending him," said Javadekar.

"He still defends Chidambaram, he still every guilty like, Dayanadi Maran and everybody. So, the Prime Ministers office is not the centre of hope for receiving justice," he added.

Khurshid has, however, said that his statement had not put the Prime Minister in a sticky position.

"No. There is no controversy, no unending feud, nothing at all. There may be differences, there may be different points of view, but there are no differences," he said.

During a recent poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, Khurshid had promised that if the Congress party was voted to power in the state, the sub-quota for Muslims would be increased to nine per cent within the 27 per cent reservation meant for Other Backward Classes (OBC).

However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) slapped Khurshid with a notice, saying his remarks had violated the model code of conduct.

The Election Commission sought the "immediate and decisive" intervention of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil after it charged Khurshid with "improper and unlawful" defiance of its orders under which he was censured for promising sub-quota for minorities.

President Patil has sent Election Commission's complaint against Salman Khurshid to Prime Minister's Office for appropriate action. (ANI)