Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru: Responding to the opposition’s allegations, the Karnataka government said in a statement on Thursday that there is no plan for reservation for Muslims in jobs. Let us inform you that the opposition had alleged that Congress is planning to allot 4% quota for Muslim contractors in public works projects worth up to Rs 1 crore.
Chief Minister’s Office issued a statement
The Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement, ‘Reports have been published in some media that a proposal to give reservation to Muslims in jobs is before the government. It says that there has been a demand for Muslim reservation, however, it has been clarified that there is no proposal before the government in this regard.
The 4% quota, which would have come under Category-2B, would have increased the overall reservation for public works contracts to 47%. Karnataka’s current allocation reserves 43% of government contracts for specific social groups: 24% for SC/ST contractors, 4% for Category-1 OBCs, and 15% for Category-2A OBCs.
Siddaramaiah’s political secretary, Naseer Ahmed, along with Housing and Waqf Minister BJ Zameer Ahmed Khan and other Muslim MLAs, said R Ashok, leader of the opposition in the state assembly, had submitted a letter on August 24 demanding that Muslims be given Rs. 4 lakhs in contracts. % reservation was requested.’
He further said that Siddaramaiah, who had directed the Finance Department to review the proposal on the same day, also reportedly supported amendments to the Karnataka Public Procurement Transparency (KTPP) Act related to the matter.
He said, ‘You have approved the amendment to the KTPP Act in relation to this matter. Despite all these letters and approvals, you are lying and claiming that there is no proposal for Muslim reservation in the contracts before the government. Do you have any sense of integrity or morality?’ Ashok also accused the CM of misleading the public by rejecting the proposal of Muslim reservation in contracts.
