Bengaluru/New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K.Shivakumar’s attempts to deflect attention from his statements regarding the Constitution proved futile, as it continued to reverberate Monday in the national capital.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the remarks by Shivakumar in both Houses of Parliament, accusing the Congress of going as far as to change the Constitution to provide for religion-based reservation to Muslims.
“Let us see, let us watch what good comes out …we have started something ..I know that everyone will go to court, let us wait for some good day ..good day will come. (A) lot of changes are there. Constitutions will be changing. There are judgements which alter the Constitution also,” the Karnataka deputy chief minister had said at a News18 conclave Sunday.
On Monday, Shivakumar said that he made “casual” references to judgements that had altered the Constitution and not on the issue of religion-based reservation. “I have said casually that there are so many places that when judgements come, on the basis of judgements, some Constitution has been changed,” he told reporters in Bengaluru.
Shivakumar’s statement has become a flashpoint between opposition and ruling benches inside Parliament, as the BJP forced the adjournment of the Rajya Sabha, thumping benches and demanding answers from the Congress.
Last week, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government passed the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Among other things, the bill mandates 4 percent reservation for Muslims under the category of 2-B of the state backward classes listed in government contracts below Rs 2 crore and for procurement of goods and services below Rs 1 crore through various public departments.
The Karnataka deputy chief minister, meanwhile, said that he was being “misquoted” by the BJP. “I am (a) sensible (and) senior politician than Mr Nadda. I have been in the assembly for the last 36 years. I have basic common sense. I have said casually that there will be so many changes after various judgments,” Shivakumar said, adding that he would bring in a breach of privilege against the BJP and pursue legal recourse.
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Tables turned
In the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP found itself at the receiving end of barbs after its senior leader Ananth Kumar Hegde remarked that the party was looking for 400-plus seats to enable it to change the constitution. The seven-time MP’s remarks had provided non-BJP alliance parties a platform to mobilise support from marginalised groups over fears that constitutionally provided safeguards would be done away with.
Now, the BJP said that the Congress wants to change the constitution to give reservations to its vote bank. “During the Independence movement, the Muslim League wanted to bring reservation on religious lines but Sardar Patel did not allow this. Now, the Congress party wants to adopt Muslim League’s policy,” Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said in the Rajya Sabha.
BJP national president J.P.Nadda said that religion-based reservation goes against the very principles laid down by B.R. Ambedkar in the Constitution.
“In Karnataka, Congress has already passed a 4 percent reservation based on religion in public contracts. Even more concerning is that their Deputy CM has openly stated that they would even change the Constitution to fulfill their divisive agenda. This blatant attempt to divide the nation for political gain poses a threat to India’s unity,” Nadda said in the Rajya Sabha.
Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, on his part, asserted that it was his party that undertook the Bharat Jodo Yatra across the country last year to protect the Constitution. “No power in the world can change the Constitution of India. It is the BJP who is subverting the Constitution to divide the country, the Congress is trying to protect it,” Kharge said.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh slammed the BJP for coming up with a “fake issue” to avoid discussion on the conduct of Justice Yashwant Varma. “Today the BJP came up with a completely FAKE issue to get Parliament adjourned so that the very serious issue of Justice Yashwant Varma’s conduct does NOT get discussed (sic),” he posted on ‘X’.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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