The Congress party in Karnataka is planning to introduce a new law in the current legislative session. This law would give Muslim contractors a special 4% share when awarding government contracts. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is facing pressure from party leaders who represent Muslims. They claim that the Congress won many votes from Muslims in the recent elections, helping them secure 136 seats in the assembly.
Currently, contractors from Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) get a 24.1% reservation for government contracts. Recently, the government also expanded this benefit to other communities in Category 1. They have also increased the contract size limit from Rs 50 lakhs to Rs 1 crore.
According to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, 1999, all departments must follow these quotas when giving out contracts for projects costing up to Rs 1 crore. Departments like minor irrigation, rural development, urban development, public works, and health regularly issue these contracts.
Muslim leaders have pointed out that there are only two ministers from their community, which they believe is not enough. They argue that since many Muslims supported the Congress in the elections, they deserve better representation and opportunities.
The proposed law has upset the opposition party, BJP. BJP state president BY Vijayendra argues that creating a special quota for Muslims is unfair and will divide society based on religion. He stated that while the BJP supports welfare measures for all minority communities, this particular move seems like playing politics with Muslim voters.
Vijayendra also criticized the Congress for only acknowledging Muslims as minorities and said that giving quotas based on religion is not right.
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