Sushma Swaraj wants Manmohan Singh to dismiss Salman Khurshid

Varanasi, Feb 12 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj on Sunday asked the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to dismiss Salman Khurshid after the Election Commission complained to President Pratibha Devisingh Patil against the Law Minister for his repeated efforts to woo Muslims with job quotas during the campaign for the ongoing Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.waraj said appropriate step must be taken to rest the controversy.

"The Prime Minister must ask him (Salman Khurshid) to resign so that controversy is rested. If this issue remains pending then the environment would be more vitiated," she told the media here.

"So, the action must be taken today without any further delay. So that election commission could conduct free and fair polls in the upcoming phases," she added.he BJP leader also criticized Salman Khurshid over his comments that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was in tears when she saw the photographs of 2008 Batla House encounter.

"The culture of the Congress Party is to have sympathy for militants and insult the martyrs," she said.

Khurshid had during a rally speech at Azamgarh earlier this week raised up the controversial issue of Batla House encounter, and said Sonia Gandhi had tears in her eyes when she heard about it.

Sushma Swaraj also took a dig at Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and said that his claims to develop Uttar Pradesh in five years were hollow, as he and his family couldn't develop their parliamentary constituencies of Bareli and Amethi.

"If he would have changed the condition of Rae Bareli and Amethi in so many years, then he could have showcased it and claimed that he would change the condition of Uttar Pradesh. But both Rae Bareli and Amethi are most backward region and it is an evidence of this hollow talks," she added.

A total of around 59 percent voters on Saturday cast their vote for the 59 seats in nine districts in the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

Polling for the second round was largely reported to be peaceful in nine districts of Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur.

An impressive 62 to 64 percent voter turnout was recorded on Wednesday registered in the first phase of assembly elections for 55 seats.

The Uttar Pradesh polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

A new 403-member state assembly will be elected in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)