BENGALURU: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Monday warned that he will take legal action against the BJP for distorting his statement about the Constitution.
The Parliament had witnessed uproar on March 24 over the alleged remarks of Shivakumar about “changing the Constitution” to provide reservation to Muslims.
He denied having said that he would make changes to the Constitution to extend reservation to Muslims.
Shivakumar said that his reference to "changing the Constitution" was limited to incidents when the Constitution had to be modified in order to comply with court orders.
"I have been in the Assembly since the last 36 years. I have a basic common sense. I have said casually that there have been many changes to the Constitution after various judgements. I have not said it in the context of this issue (Muslim reservation). As per the quota of the backwards classes, reservation has been given. I have not said that we are going to change Constitution. Whatever they (BJP leaders) are quoting is wrong," Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru as a huge row erupted over the remarks.
His statement in an interview with a private TV channel on Sunday had snowballed into a controversy.
Asked whether the media had given wrong information, he said, "No, it is not the media's fault. The BJP has distorted my statement. It has dragged my name for no reason," he said.
He agreed that he spoke about how there are instances of amendments being made as per the court verdicts but denied making any statements about changing the Constitution.
The BJP is propping up non-issues since it has failed on various fronts.
"This is a political conspiracy against me and the Congress party,” he alleged.
In the recently concluded budget session of the Karnataka legislature, The Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements(Amendment) Bill, 2025 was approved to provide a 4 per cent quota to the community that comes under category 2B, on the lines of SC/ST/OBCs in the government tenders and procurement of goods and services up to Rs 2 crore.