Muslim quota in contracts: Karnataka govt takes U-turn after facing flak

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s office on Tuesday said there is no proposal before the government to provide reservation to Muslims in public contracts for construction works notwithstanding documents showing that plans were afoot to amend the law for this.

The government’s U-turn came after the opposition BJP slammed the ruling Congress for “reckless appeasement politics”.

On August 24, a dozen Muslim Congress lawmakers signed a petition asking Siddaramaiah to provide reservation in contracts to “economically and socially backward” Muslims under Category-2B of the OBCs.

A week later, on August 31, Siddaramaiah asked the finance department to “examine” the petition and “put up” a file.

By October 19, a note was ready in the finance department on amending Section 6 of the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (KTPP) Act to include Category-2B (Muslims) under reservation in contracts.

However, the chief minister’s office issued a brief statement thus: “It’s true that there’s a demand to provide reservation (to Muslims). But it is clarified that there is no proposal before the government.” The CMO even said it is clarifying over “a new lie”.

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar also called it a lie. “There’s no discussion about this. The BJP is creating all this as it’s election time,” he said.

The petition to Siddaramaiah, which formed the basis of the finance department’s internal note, was signed by CM’s Political Secretary Naseer Ahmed, Ministers Zameer Ahmed Khan and Rahim Khan, Government Chief Whip Saleem Ahmed, lawmakers Tanveer Sait, Abdul Jabbar, NA Haris, Rizwan Arshad, Asif Sait, Kaneez Fatima, Iqbal Hussain and Bilkis Bano.

The BJP went to town with the government’s now-rescinded move.

“It is all about Muslim votes for the Congress, in gross contempt of the Constitution, which precludes any religion-based reservation,” BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya said.

“The reckless appeasement politics of Congress is crossing all limits,” Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka said. “At this rate, Karnataka will soon turn into an Islamic Republic and Hindus will become second grade citizens, if not already.”

Based on the finance department’s note, Ashoka called out Siddaramaiah for “blatantly lying” that there is no proposal before the government. “Stumble and then lie...this is the CM’s daily routine,” he said.

Rajya Sabha BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya lamented that the Congress government is "further alienating Muslims" with moves like reservation in contracts.