New Delhi: The JD(U) on Friday slammed Law Minister Salman Khurshid for his remarks against the controversy surrounding his statement on granting 9 per cent quota for minorities in Uttar Pradesh and accused Congress of raising non-issues in the election campaign.
Accusing the Congress of becoming "restless" in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh polls, party chief Sharad Yadav also targeted Rahul Gandhi over the issue of delay in passing the new Land Acquisition Act and his recent move to woo weavers in the state.
"He (Khurshid) is speaking against the Constitution and the law. We condemn the kind of language that he (Khurshid) has used against the Election Commission. No minister has far tried to tarnish EC's image like this. He could have expressed his views in his reply to the EC notice. We strongly condemn the dismissive attitude he has shown (towards the poll body)," Yadav told reporters in New Delhi.
Khurshid, who has courted controversy for his statement on granting 9 per cent quota for minorities, on Friday said he had no regrets as he had not done anything unlawful.
"No. Why should I regret? You regret when you do something unlawful," he told reporters while emerging from a meeting of the Group of Ministers on Bhopal gas tragedy.
Khurshid had made the promise of nine per cent sub-quota for Muslims within the existing 27 per cent OBC quota while canvassing for his wife Louise in UP's Farrukhabad constituency.
He was slapped with a notice on Tuesday by the Election Commission which held that prima facie his promise on sub-quota for backward muslims within existing 27 per cent OBC quota was "serious violation" of the model code of conduct.
The Minister replied to the notice yesterday in which he defended his statement by citing the 2009 Congress poll manifesto in which the party had promised to provide for a sub-quota for minorities.
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