The BJP on Saturday slammed the Karnataka government's decision to reserve four per cent of government contracts for Muslims as unconstitutional, alleging that it is part of the Congress' appeasement politics and weakens the national unity.

Addressing a press conference, BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad accused Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi of seeking to lead the Congress in the competitive vote bank politics among opposition parties.

He claimed that Gandhi is behind the Karnataka government's decision for quota for Muslim contractors as Chief Minister Siddharamaiah does not have courage or political capital to take the decision.

The announcement of separate quota in government contracts for Muslims has given a new dimension to the communal and vote bank politics, he said.

Such a decision, the former law minister said, may seem small but developments like these add up to have serious national implications.

Prasad asked if there is any limit to such competitive appeasement politics and if separate queues for Muslims in buying cinema and train tickets will come next.

He said such a decision also weakens the voice for those Muslims who are against such politics and stand for the country's development.

Prasad said several demands, including separate voting, for exclusive treatment for Muslims during the independence movement had finally ended up in the country's division.

He said the Supreme Court has emphatically spoken against religion-based reservations and expressed confidence that the decision of the Congress government in Karnataka will be challenged in courts.

Asking if Gandhi understands the Constitution, he said other Congress-run states may also follow the example of Karnataka. The BJP will oppose it, he added.

The Constitution makes provision for reservation on the ground of social and education backwardness, and Muslims too have benefitted under it in different states, he said.

The state government has given its nod for amending the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement (KTPP) Act to provide four per cent reservation in government tenders to Muslim contractors.

Prasad alleged that the Congress is setting new benchmark in competitive votebank and Muslim appeasement politics, adding that this is dangerous for the country.

Religion-based reservation is impermissible under the Constitution, he said, adding that Pakistan's founder M A Jinnah might have gone but left behind those who practise his politics.

"A large number of Muslims in the country now do not like such politics," he said.

The BJP, Prasad said, respects Muslim figures like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and former president A P J Abdul Kalam among others, and noted that the Narendra Modi government had named one of the islands in the Andaman and Nicobar region after Param Vir Chakra awardee Abdul Hamid.

Further advancing appeasement politics is against national unity, he said.

Noting that Congress leaders these days carry pictures of Bhim Rao Ambedkar to take aims at the BJP, Prasad cited Ambedkar's criticism of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru for speaking up for Muslims but not about welfare of Scheduled Castes to hit back.

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