Bhopal, April 24 (IANS): Criticising the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the grand old party has 'snatched' the reservation quota of the OBCs in Karnataka and gave around 15 per cent of that to the people of the Muslim community in the southern state to save its vote bank.

Speaking at a rally in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar Lok Sabha constituency, PM Modi said the Congress has cheated a large section of the people.

"Around 15 per cent reservation quota of the OBCs was given to Muslims in Karnataka. Congress is setting a wrong precedent by giving reservations based on religion. Founder-members of our Constitution had opposed the idea of reservations on the basis of religion," PM Modi said.

PM Modi further said the Congress has been pushing for reservations based on religion for the last several years and they had mentioned it in their election manifestos in 2009 and 2014.

"The Congress wants to snatch SC/ST and OBC quota. The party wants to give it to Muslims to settle its vote bank. Congress wants to impose an inheritance tax on private properties, and their wrong intention was exposed again," he said.

Addressing the rally, PM Modi also mentioned the major projects set up in Madhya Pradesh, saying the state has witnessed inclusive growth in the last 10 years.

"The people of Madhya Pradesh are very much aware of the developments that took place in the last 10 years. The state which used to be in the BIMARU category during the Congress regime but has become a progressive state now," PM Modi said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hopeful of repeating its impressive performance in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls this time as well.

In the 2014 general elections, the BJP won 27 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats in the central Indian state while in 2019, it bagged 28 seats.