Congress mum on EC step against Salman Khurshid

New Delhi, Feb 11: Congress tonight avoided commenting on the Election Commission's letter to President Pratibha Patil seeking "immediate decisive" action against a "defiant and aggressive" Law Minister Salman Khurshid for his remarks on job quotas for minorities.

"We have not gone through the letter written by the EC to the President. We will get back to you after we go through it," Congress spokesman Rashid Alvi said here.

"Ask Salman," was the pithy remark of a senior Congress leader when reached for comments on the poll authority's unprecedented step against the Law Minister.

A number of phone calls and text messages to Khurshid remained unanswered. In a letter to the President, the Election Commission said the defiance by a Union Minister of the Constitutional body was "unprecedented" and his "improper and unlawful action" has put a strain on the delicate balance of functions between Constitutional authorities.

The strongly-worded two-page letter was written to the President after an emergency meeting of the full Commission in the wake of Khurshid's statement earlier in the day that he would continue to pursue the line on nine per cent sub-quota for minorities 'even if they hang me'.

The EC had earlier censured him for the same statement made on January 8 while campaigning in Uttar Pradesh elections, holding that it was violative of the Election Model Code of Conduct.

PTI