Bengaluru: The Federation of State Muslim Organisations on Tuesday urged the ruling Congress to allocate at least one Rajya Sabha seat to a Muslim candidate during the upcoming polls for four seats in the upper house of Parliament from Karnataka.
Elections for the four seats from the state will be held on June 18.
Based on their strength in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the Congress is expected to win three seats while the BJP-led NDA is likely to win one.
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The polls are necessitated by the retirement of four sitting members - Iranna Kadadi and Narayana Koragappa, both from the BJP; Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress; and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda of the JD(S) - whose terms end on June 25.
"As the tenure of four current Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka is coming to an end, elections for these seats are around the corner. Of these, the Congress party is expected to comfortably win three seats. The Federation of Karnataka Muslim Organisations strongly demands that the Congress party allocate at least one of these winning seats to a candidate from the Muslim community," it said in a statement.
The Federation urged AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and KPCC President D K Shivakumar to take a special interest in the matter.
Noting that only one of the 12 sitting Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka belongs to the Muslim community, the federation said that in the past, at least two Lok Sabha MPs from the Muslim community had represented Congress from the state.
"However, today, there is not a single Muslim Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka. The number of Lok Sabha tickets given by Congress to Muslims has drastically dropped to just one. Representation in the Rajya Sabha is also limited to just one member. Consequently, the representation of the state's Muslim community in Parliament has hit an all-time low," it said.
The Muslim community played a decisive role in bringing the Congress government to power in Karnataka, the federation said.
"The community voted for the Congress party in a united and consolidated manner. Compared to any other community, Muslims voted for Congress in the highest proportion, making a significant contribution to its victory," it added.
"Despite this, the representation of Muslims in the state cabinet, bureaucracy, major government institutions, universities, and boards and corporations is extremely low when compared to their population and the overwhelming support they extended to Congress," it said.
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"To make matters worse, a perception has spread within the community that Congress hesitates to field Muslim candidates even in constituencies where victory is highly likely," it added.
Urging Congress to address this deficit in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections by allocating at least one seat to a Muslim leader, the federation said the move would also align with the ideals recently advocated by senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.
"It was recently reported that Rahul Gandhi had directed the party's minority wing to ensure greater representation and participation for the Muslim community within the party's organisational structure," it said.
"The Federation of State Muslim Organisations, therefore, demands that Congress, which is in power in Karnataka, uphold the vision and ideology of its top leadership by allocating at least one Rajya Sabha seat to a Muslim candidate," the federation added.
