Sub-quota for Muslims to be part of Congress manifesto: Salman Khurshid

The issue of providing reservation to backward Muslims is likely to form a part of the Congress manifesto to be released on January 29, Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid said here today.

He said before the release of the manifesto for Uttar Pradesh, a vision document of the party will be unveiled in major towns of the state on Republic Day.

Khurshid said the party manifesto will include the demand to provide reservation to backward Muslims but did not elaborate.

The Law minister, while campaigning for his wife Louise in Farrukhabad, had recently promised granting nine per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims in the state if voted to power.

Khurshid had said that his party it would enhance the sub-quota to Muslims to 9 per cent within the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), prompting the Election Commission to issue a show-cause notice to him.

However, strongly defending his remarks promising job quotas for minorities, Khurshid had told the EC that he had only made a declaration of intent and not a policy announcement.

Asked to comment on the EC action, Khurshid today rued that though he was issued notice, the Commission did not take cognisance of SP manifesto in which a lot of promises have been made.