Siddaramaiah's caste survey report ‘scrapped', says BJP after Congress asks Karnataka govt to relook at population data
Taking to X, Karnataka BJP general secretary Sunil Kumar Karkala contended that the Congress high command 'has scrapped the caste census report prepared by the state government.' The report, he said, was 'even scheduled to be approved in a cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills. But the Congress high command has now stepped in, rejected the report, and asked for a re-census within a time frame, citing inaccuracies in the data,' he posted.
The BJP demanded an apology from the Siddaramaiah and the Congress for creating 'discontent among communities', alleging that the chief minister had pushed for the report marred by discrepancies to be accepted by the cabinet
Earlier in the day, the Congress leadership advised the government to re-enumerate population numbers of various castes, while granting 'in-principle' approval to the report prepared by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC). The high command said the numbers presented in the report were a decade old.
The decision was announced by Congress general secretary K C Venugopal after the high command held a meeting with Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar over the matter.
The survey was commissioned in 2015 during Siddaramaiah's first term as chief minister but was placed before the cabinet only in April this year. The cabinet is yet to accept the report and has sought written opinions from ministers about the findings and recommendations of the report.
Dominant communities have opposed the report as the survey has found that the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) formed 70 per cent of the state's population and dismissed assumptions about the size of the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. OBC groups, however, have sought the government to accept the report.
'This report, which was prepared at a cost of Rs 150 crore, is a huge waste of taxpayer money and does a great disservice to the backward and marginalised communities. The BJP had repeatedly pointed out that there were discrepancies in the data of the caste census report and demanded that it be re-examined. However, Siddaramaiah continued with his usual recklessness even in such a sensitive matter,' said Kumar, BJP MLA for Karkala and a former minister.
Not just Siddaramaiah, the Congress high command has also hurt the sentiments of backward and marginalised communities, Kumar alleged. 'For the past decade, Siddaramaiah has been fooling the people on this very issue, creating discontent and dissatisfaction among communities,' the BJP leader said, demanding an apology from Siddaramaiah and the Congress.
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