NEW DELHI: Parliament on Monday witnessed multiple adjournments amid ruckus between the BJP and the Congress leaders over Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar’s reported remarks about “changing the Constitution”.
A heated argument erupted between leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and BJP president JP Nadda in Rajya Sabha with the latter questioning Karnataka government’s 4% reservation move to minorities while allotting contracts for work in the state.
Slamming the move, BJP president JP Nadda questioned Congress’s “save the Constitution” rhetoric. “Ye Ambedkar ke rakhwaale bante hain (These people claim to be saviours of Ambedkar),” he said, adding, “Sardar Patel and Ambedkar had said that reservation in the name of religion will noy take place.”
Kharge made it clear that “no such statement was made by the Karnataka minister”.
Kharge was responding to Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s claim that “one of the very responsible leaders of the Congress party, who is holding a constitutional post. They have made a statement that they are going to change the Constitution to provide reservations in contract to the Muslim community. We cannot take this statement lightly. It is an extremely serious matter we cannot tolerate, and this an assault on the Constitution of India.”
“Nobody talked about changing the Constitution, and no one from our side would talk about changing the Constitution. Such claims are always made from that side,” Kharge said pointing towards the NDA leaders.
His claims were dismissed by BJP president JP Nadda, who said that “whatever the leader of opposition said is complete lie and false.”
He repeated the claim that DKS talked about “changing Constitution”. “Samvidhan Congress ne diya hai, Samvidhan ko badalne ka kaam b Congress ki karegi,” he said citing it as DKS’s comment.
The controversy erupted after Shivakumar, at an event on Sunday, reportedly said that the “Constitution will be changing” while discussing a bill granting 4% reservation to minorities and other backward Classes in public contracts. His remarks triggered a political storm, drawing sharp criticism from BJP leaders. Meanwhile, the Karnataka state cabinet has approved an amendment to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act, aimed at reserving 4% of tenders for minority contractors.