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New Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
CM Siddaramaiah to lead AICC OBC Advisory Council, first meet in Bengaluru on July 15
BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will head the All-India Congress Committee's (AICC) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Advisory Council, set up to understand the problems faced by the communities and formulate a strategy to provide solutions to them. The first meeting of the council will be held on the premises of the KPCC office in Bengaluru on July 15. Although Siddaramaiah is reluctant to enter national politics, the Congress high command has elevated him to serve at the national level, projecting the AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits) leader as the party's face of the Backward Classes. The council will provide advice on the problems and challenges of OBCs across the country and will also give suggestions on the steps to be taken for their development. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge recently approved the formation of the council. The council comprises 24 members, including four former CMs. Senior Congress MLC BK Hariprasad and former Karnataka CM M Veerappa Moily are also on the board. Siddaramaiah had recently written to Hariprasad seeking his suggestions. As many as 90 Congress leaders from across the country have been invited for the meeting. Also, 10 former Union Ministers will be present. The meeting is likely to take 'historic decisions with regard to providing social justice to the backward classes and finding solutions to the problems faced by them,' stated a press release. The members of the council are — Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanaswamy, Sachin Pilot,Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Arun Yadav, Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar, V Hanumantha Rao, Amit Chawda, Mahesh Kumar Goud, Ponnam Prabhakar, S Jothimani, Srikant Jena, Kamleswar Patel, Ajay Kumar Lallu, Subhashini Yadav, Adoor Prakash Dhanendra Sahu, Heena Kavre, Dr Anil Jaihind, Convener of the Advisory Board and secretary Jitender Baghel.
Hindustan Times
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Cong brass ordered new caste survey: K'taka CM
The decision to conduct a caste re-enumeration in Karnataka was taken by the Congress high command and not the state cabinet, chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday, setting a timeline of 60-70 days to complete the exercise. Accepting the earlier report 'in principle', Siddaramaiah said that there were some complaints regarding it as it has been 10 years since the survey was conducted. 'I am following the high command's directive. It is not my or the Cabinet's decision. It is not a decision of the government. It is a decision of the high command. The high command has asked for the re-enumeration and a re-survey to be carried out,' Siddaramaiah said. 'The high command said that some complaints have come because the survey had happened in 2015-16, it has almost been nine-ten years old. So in a short period, in about 60-70 days a re-enumeration will be done. We are not rejecting the entire report (given by the Backward Classes Commission). Principally the report is accepted, only re-enumeration will be done,' Siddaramaiah said. Following a meeting of the Congress leadership on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah said that a fresh caste survey will be conducted to address complaints from several communities who alleged that they were either excluded or underrepresented in the controversial 2015 exercise. The meeting came after weeks of discontent over the findings of the caste survey originally carried out in 2015 at a cost of ₹162 crore during Siddaramaiah's earlier tenure as chief minister. Several ministers, MLAs, and MPs had raised objections, citing that the data did not fully represent the diverse caste composition of the state. Siddaramaiah, a key AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits) leader, pointed out that a number of stakeholders — including religious leaders, community organisations, and even members of his cabinet — had raised doubts about the comprehensiveness of the original report. Criticism of the survey has intensified in the recent months, particularly from influential community groups. The Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats, Karnataka's two dominant communities, strongly objected to the findings, demanding that the report be scrapped and a fresh survey conducted. Asked if he was disappointed with the party high command's directive for re-enumeration instead of acting on the report under the consideration of the cabinet, he said, 'We will go by the high command's decision. It is not my decision, it is not the decision of the cabinet or our government, it is a decision of the high command. High command has asked for re-enumeration.' Addressing media in Kalaburagi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said re-enumeration is essential as the data available is 10 years old. 'The criterias that were used in the earlier survey will remain, along with that if anything was left out it will be added. But the re-survey is essential because the data available is ten years old and in ten years many have come into OBC, many were added. So considering all these things a fresh survey has to be done, nothing other than that,' he said. the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' survey report was placed before the cabinet for the first time on April 11. The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state. The State Backward Classes Commission, under its then chairperson H Kantharaju, was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018 towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as Chief Minister, and the report was finalised by Kantharaju's successor K Jayaprakash Hegde in February 2024. Experts said that a fresh survey could help the Congress consolidate OBC votes. 'A caste census alone won't achieve much unless it's used as a tool to mobilise the OBCs, who have never come together as a unified group. In AHINDA, the loose link is the OBCs, Kurubas support the Congress because of Siddaramaiah, not necessarily due to any resentment towards the BJP,' said political analyst A Narayana. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly R Ashoka said the move is an 'embarrassment' and 'defeat' for CM Siddaramaiah, while it is a political win for deputy CM DK Shivakumar. 'We had all opposed this report. The Congress High Command also felt that this report was not right. The High Command has given a slap in the face to Siddaramaiah. Despite the CM's insistence that he would implement the report no matter what, he has now gone back on his words, so it would be appropriate for him to resign. ₹160 crore has been wasted, and they don't have the funds to conduct another survey. They must answer for this,' he said. BJP leader N Ravi Kumar alleged that the Congress high command and its top leader Rahul Gandhi were never in agreement with Siddaramaiah's caste census right from the beginning. 'In fact, Rahul Gandhi had urged the Centre to consider Telangana's example as a model while taking up the caste census. He would have mentioned Karnataka's caste census as the model if he had faith in it,' the BJP MLC argued.
