Wednesday, August 24 2005 20:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: A sharp division between two key partners of opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA) surfaced in the Lok Sabha today (Aug 24, 2005)with Janata Dal (JD)United (U) leader Nitish Kumar making a strong plea for providing reservation to those from Scheduled Castes converted to Islam and Christianity, a stand opposed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members.

"Caste does not go away by mere change of religion", Kumar emphasised amid protests from some BJP members as few Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress members alleged that the JD-U leader was saying it in view of Bihar Assembly polls round the corner.

Government should come forward with a legislation that would extend reservation to SCs who converted to Christianity and Islam, he said participating in a discussion on Supreme Court Chief Justice R C Lahoti's outburst on the issue of reservation in unaided private institutions.

Kumar also had a dig at the Congress by recalling that the talk of 'committed judiciary' had taken place a few decades back.

He said that there was no confrontation between Parliament and Judiciary and it was a different matter if the Government was facing problems in the Supreme Court in certain cases.