FARRUKHABAD/ NEW DELHI: Wooing Muslim voters, Union law minister Salman Khurshid said the Congress party would provide nine per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims if it was voted to power in the coming
Uttar Pradesh
assembly election.
The Congress leader promised this while addressing a poll meeting on Sunday in Farrukhabad assembly constituency from where his wife Louise is contesting.
Khurshid said the Congress would provide nine per cent reservation for backward Muslims within the existing OBC quota in UP in the event of its forming the government in the state.
He said more than eight castes such as Mansoori and Qureshi would benefit from such a move.
He reminded the voters that the UPA government at the Centre had already taken a decision to provide 4.5 per cent reservation for minorities within the existing 27 per cent OBC quota.
Though opposition parties termed the move as inadequate, such an initiative had never been taken by any government, Khurshid said.
Meanwhile, the
BJP
has indicated that it will go all out to woo the OBC voters in Uttar Pradesh by highlighting the loss to them once minorities are given reservation from their quota.
Shedding its initial reluctance over Kushwaha's induction into the party, the BJP top brass appears to have reconciled to the need to win over the OBC along with the upper caste in its bid to get more seats in poll bound UP.
