BJP, Congress fight over non-existent sub-manifesto

The Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Friday exchanged barbs over a non-existent Congress supplementary manifesto promising reservations in jobs to a Muslims and on whether there was a wave at all in BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's favour.

The Congress denied having come out with any supplementary manifesto on Muslim sub-quota, after reports claimed the party had prepared a sub-manifesto which talked about reservations to backward Muslims. The denial came a little late in the day, by which time BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad took the opportunity to accuse the Congress of playing vote-bank politics and introducing communalism in the election discourse by its sub-manifesto on Muslim quota. He said the Congress was working against the interests of scheduled castes and other backward classes. "I call this sub-quota illegal, unconstitutional and politically immoral," Prasad said in Lucknow. He added it was a "last desperate" act of the Congress to win votes. Prasad demanded that leaders such as Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar should also make their stand clear on the issue of sub-quota for Muslims. Later in the day, Congress leader Kapil Sibal rejected reports of a supplementary manifesto. "The Congress has not come out with any sub-manifesto," said Sibal, also the law minister.