Kiren Rijiju attacks Congress and blames them for transforming ministry to gain votes

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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju criticised the Congress party, claiming that it had transformed the Ministry of Minority Affairs into a Muslim Affairs Ministry to secure votes in the elections, ANI reported.

While addressing a press conference in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar on Sunday, Rijiju said, "Congress party had made the Ministry of Minority Affairs into a Muslim Affairs Ministry to make a particular community vote bank. At that time they made a rule that only a Muslim can be the chairman of the National Minority Commission. This is unconstitutional... This committee was formed to look after 6 minority communities, but the other 5 communities were sidelined. Everyone has suffered because of this."

Further attacking Congress, he alleged that the party had used a divide-and-rule master plan in order to secure votes in the elections.

"This has harmed everyone, but the biggest loss has been to Muslims because the Congress party established Muslims as a vote bank. Whenever a community becomes a vote bank, it suffers greatly because, during elections, the Congress party thinks they are guaranteed 15 per cent of the Muslim vote, so they don't need to do anything for them. Their (Congress) strategy has been to divide and rule to secure votes. By turning Muslims into a vote bank, they have caused harm to Muslims and to the country as well," he said, as cited by ANI.

The elections to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly are likely to be held next month. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the poll dates.

Last month, the Election Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar also met representatives of all political parties to seek their suggestions for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024.

At a review meeting with the state chief secretary and director general of police, officials were told to ensure all necessary facilities at polling stations, including benches, fans, drinking water and a shed.

The Commission said it would act strictly on any complaints of voter inconvenience on poll day. Officials were told to ensure proper queue management at polling stations, according to PTI sources.

The upcoming Maharashtra elections will see a competition between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, made up of the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress, and the ruling Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).

In the 2019 Maharashtra assembly election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 105 seats while the Congress won 44 seats.

(With inputs from PTI)