Muslim rerservation-a surrogate bid to pick votes ; Naqvi

New Delhi, July 5 (UNI) BJP Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today ridiculed the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh to provide four per cent reservation for Muslims and said it was 'surrogate effort' to pick Muslim votes.

Reacting to Andhra Pradesh Government declaring four per cent reservation for Muslims, Mr Naqvi said the Congress had always used Muslims as its vote bank but never did anything to uplift them in economic and social aspects. They speak of reservation but are actually aiming at the votes. "This is akin to the impact of surrogate advertisements, they show something on the screen but sell some other product under display. They speak of reservation for Muslims but are picking the votes without the community realising what was happening", Mr Naqvi said.

With this effort, the Muslims were brought under 'E-Category' (election category) and were treating them as Election Voters Muslims (EVMs).

The BJP, he said wanted the progress of all poor people without religious tags.

UNI