MUMBAI: The Maha Vikas Aghadi government will provide 5% reservation for Muslims in government educational institutions, minorities minister Nawab Malik announced in the legislative council on Friday, drawing sharp reactions from the opposition as well as the Shiv Sena, which said no decision has been taken yet. If implemented, the total reservation in the state will rise to 69%.The move takes forward a 2014 ordinance brought in by the then Congress-NCP government to provide quota for Muslims in education and government jobs. The Bombay high court had stayed the job reservation and quota in private educational institutions, but had cleared it for state-run educational institutions. Malik said the government will soon bring a bill as per HC orders. This means, private educational institutions and government jobs will not be included.The NCP minister’s announcement in reply to a Congress member’s query comes barely a week after the allies clashed on the issue of CAA and NPR. CM and Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray had initially backed the Centre on CAA and NPR, only to concede ground later and signal conditional support following criticism from allies NCP and Congress.When BJP’s Bhai Girkar sought to know if the Sena supported the quota, Malik said, “The Sena is committed to resolve the issues of various communities, including Muslims. Also when it was part of the previous regime and NCP-Congress MLAs raised the issue of Muslim reservation, several Sena MLAs had supported it.”Several states such as Kerala, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal already have reservation for Muslims.Congress MLC Husnabanu Khalife demanded that the issue of reservation for Muslims be decided before admissions begin in May. Minorities minister Nawab Malik replied that a decision would be taken at the earliest.On the issue of reservation for Muslims in government jobs and private educational institutions, Malik told the legislative council these issues would be resolved.The quota issue was raised by Congress’ Sharad Ranpise who expressed unhappiness over the written reply given by the government and said, “The answer is the same as that given by the previous government.” Ranpise then asked if the 5% reservation which was not stayed by the Bombay HC in its interim order would be implemented.However, Sena minister Eknath Shinde said no decision has been taken so far on the issue. "The CM will take a decision after speaking to all the allies at the right time," said Shinde.Opposition leader in the assembly Devendra Fadnavis later told TOI that BJP was opposed to all reservations based on religion. “We want to what deals the Sena has agreed to, to form the government. When the Sena was with us it had opposed the reservation. We will oppose the reservation based on religion. Also, there is no final order (of the Bombay High Court ) on the 5% reservation,” he said.Fadnavis said Dr B R Ambedkar’s Constitution does not allow for reservation based on religion. A similar view was taken by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, he added.“The Modi government has already provided 10% reservation for the economically poor which includes Muslims. This enabled a Muslim boy to obtain admission in the IIT,” he said.The Muslim reservation will impact that for the Other Backward Caste and Maratha community reservation, he said.