Bengaluru, 24 March

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for 15 minutes in the post-lunch session on 24 March due to a tussle between ruling and opposition members over the issue of reservation to Muslims in public contracts in Karnataka.

When the House resumed after lunch after laying listed documents, Deputy Chairman Harivansh gave an opportunity to speak to Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, who rejected the allegation that any Congress leader had talked about changing the Constitution.

Kharge insisted that no one from his party in Karnataka had made any comment about changing the Constitution to give reservation to Muslims. However, Leader of the House JP Nadda said that the Congress was giving reservation to Muslims in public contracts.

While ruling BJP MPs created a ruckus accusing a Congress leader of changing the Constitution to provide reservation to Muslims,  Kharge said no force can change the Constitution framed by BR Ambedkar. Amid sloganeering, mostly from the ruling side, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar the Rajya Sabha adjourned the proceedings until later.

Earlier, senior Congress leader and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar refused to comment on changing the Constitution to accommodate four per cent reservation for Muslims in the state and claimed he was being misquoted. "I am a sensible senior politician... I have been in the Assembly for the last 36 years. I have basic common sense. I have never said anything like this (about changing the Constitution)," he told reporters.