Rajya Sabha adjourned for the day amid ruckus over Shivakumar's 'constitution change for Muslim reservation' remark

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed repeated adjournments over Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's remark concerning reservation to Muslim community in public contracts in the state.

With members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continuing their protests on the issue, the Upper House was adjourned for the day to meet on Tuesday (March 25, 2025).

Soon after the House convened for the day, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju raised the issue and asked Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to clear the grand old party's position on the statement made by DK Shivakumar.

"One of the senior members of the Congress party who is holding a constitutional post has made a statement that they are going to change the Constitution of India. He has stated that Congress party will provide reservation to the Muslim community and for that they will change the Constitution of India," he said in Rajya Sabha.

As the protests by the ruling party continued, the House proceeding was adjourned till 2 PM.

The House reconvened after lunch hour but was adjourned again due to protests. The continued protests then led to adjourning the House for the day.

DK Shivakumar has however claimed that the ruling party members are misquoting his statement over reservation to Muslim community in state contracts.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar today met with Leader of the House and Leader of Opposition on the matter pertaining to judiciary and alleged discovery of cash near the residence of Delhi High Court judge Justice Yashwant Varma.

"I am grateful to the Leader of the House, (JP) Nadda Ji, and Leader of the Opposition, (Mallikarjun) Kharge Ji. We had meaningful deliberation about the issue that is agitating the mind of Judiciary. It is for the first time since independence that a Chief Justice has in a transparent, accountable manner put all material available to him in public domain and shared it without keeping anything with the Court," Dhankhar said after the meeting.

UNI NK CS