BJP demands strict action against Salman Khurshid over EC's complaint

Lucknow, Feb 12 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday hit out at Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid after the Election Commission complained to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil against him for his repeated efforts to woo Muslims with job quotas during the campaign for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that a 'constitutional calamity' had arisen and that the BJP wanted strict action on Khurshid by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, on the issue.

"Mr Salman Khurshid is the Law Minister. He is also the Minority Affairs Minister. He knows the law. The election commission has structured him not to make the announcement of nine percent reservation publicly because it goes against the level playing field principle of the moral code of conduct. Yet he is saying publicly that I will continue to do so," Prasad told the media here.

"A constitutional body like election commission's mandate is sought to be compromised by a senior minister of the government of India. An unprecedented constitutional crisis like situation has emerged. Will the honourable Prime Minister take action? Or maintain his conventional inaction? Will Mrs Sonia Gandhi speak something? Or maintain her conspicuous silence?" he added.

Meanwhile, Janata Dal-united (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav speaking on the issue said the Prime Minister should ban Khurshid in Uttar Pradesh for his comments.

"The Prime Minister should ban this person in Uttar Pradesh. A competent Prime Minister should have expelled him from the government. But at least he should be banned. Also, he is making personal conversations public. I don't think Sonia Gandhi cried as Khurshid had claimed," he said.

The Election Commission last night sought the "immediate and decisive" intervention of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil after it charged n Khurshid with "improper and unlawful" defiance of its orders under which he was censured for promising sub-quota for minorities.

Salman Khurshid had during a rally speech at Azamgarh earlier this week raised up the controversial issue of Batla House encounter, and said Sonia Gandhi had tears in her eyes when she heard about it.

Batla House encounter officially known as Operation Batla House, took place on 19 September 2008, against suspected Indian Mujahideen (IM) terrorists in Batla House locality in Jamia Nagar, Delhi, in which two suspected terrorist, Atif Amin and Mohamed Sajid were killed, while two other suspects Mohd Saif and Zeeshan were arrested, while one accused Ariz Khan managed to escape.

Encounter specialist and Delhi Police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police action was also killed during the incident. (ANI)