Tempers flared in Parliament on Monday as leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress traded barbs over remarks Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar made about the Constitution a day earlier.

Soon after the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha commenced, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju demanded an explanation from Congress chief and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge of his party’s position on reservations for Muslims, reported ANI.

Rijiju claimed that Shivakumar had said the Congress would “change the Constitution to provide reservation to the Muslim community”. Kharge replied that nobody could alter the Constitution.

Shivakumar had on Sunday spoken about the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Amendment Bill, 2025, at the News18 India Diamond States Summit 2025.

The bill provides for 4% reservation for Muslims and other minorities in the awarding of public contracts. It was approved by the state Cabinet on March 14 and tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on March 18.

Answering a question about the Constitution not allowing reservations based on religion, Shivakumar reportedly said: “I agree, let us wait and watch.”

“Let us see what the courts say,” said the Congress leader, according to The Hindu. “I know people will approach the court. Let us wait for the good day, good day will come. Lot of changes are there and the Constitution will be changing. There are judgements which alter the Constitution also.”

“We cannot take this statement lightly,” Rijiju said in Parliament on Monday. “It is an extremely serious matter we cannot tolerate and this is an assault on the Constitution of India. I want a clear-cut reply from the Congress president [Mallikarjun Kharge] who is sitting in the House.”

Rijiju also claimed that the Congress had “sullied the prestige of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution”. “If you have guts, demand the resignation of deputy chief minister [Shivakumar] today itself.”

Kharge replied that his party had organised the Bharat Jodo Yatra to protect the Constitution.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra, or Unite India March, began in Kanyakumari on September 7, 2022, and covered over 3,000 km before concluding in Srinagar on January 30, 2023. The march was led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“Nobody can change the Constitution drafted by Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Kharge was quoted as saying by ANI. “Nobody can finish reservation. To protect it, we did the Bharat Jodo Yatra from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.”

Pointing at leaders of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, the Congress president said: “They break India.”

Amid an uproar, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House till 2 pm.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Shivakumar clarified that he had not spoken about changing the Constitution but “casually” mentioned that several judgements had led to amendments, according to The Hindu.

“Whatever they are quoting is wrong,” said the Congress leader. “They are misquoting it. We are a national party, we know what Constitution is. I will move a privilege motion on this. I will fight a case, they are misquoting me.”