Congress disowns Khurshid’s 9% quota promise

After supporting him initially, the Congress on Friday disowned law minister Salman Khurshid’s promise to provide 9% reservation for backward Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. HT reports. No regrets over statement on sub- quota: Khurshid | PM letter settles Khurshid, EC spat

After supporting him initially, the Congress on Friday disowned law minister Salman Khurshid’s promise to provide 9% reservation for backward Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

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“It is his individual view. It would be better if you ask Khurshid for his reaction. There is inner party democracy in our party,” Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told mediapersons here.

The party’s U-turn came after reports from UP suggested that the promise had not gone down well with the OBCs, who perceived it as an encroachment on their turf.

Out to regain the political ground it had lost in the northern state in 1989, the Congress is going all out to woo different castes and communities that have moved away from it in the past 22 years. And the support of OBCs and Muslims is crucial for the party’s revival in UP.

Alvi’s reaction on Friday appears to have been prompted by Khurshid’s incorrect assertion that he merely reiterated the promise the Congress had made in its manifesto for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.