Patil sends Quraishi’s letter to PMO

President Pratibha Patil has forwarded Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi’s letter over Law Minister Salman Khurshid’s defiant stand on quota for backward Muslims in Uttar Pradesh to the prime minister’s office for “appropriate action”.

Official sources said that the president “had seen” the letter written by CEC Saturday evening, in which he sought her “immediate and decisive intervention”.

They said that the letter had been sent to the PMO for appropriate action.

The poll panel had censured Khurshid Thursday over his promise for nine percent quota for minorities including backward Muslims from the 27 percent Other Backward Class quota if Congress is voted to power in Uttar Pradesh.

Khurshid triggered a fresh controversy Friday evening with his remarks that he will ensure rights to “pasmanda (backward Muslims)” even if he is “hanged” by the poll panel.