BENGALURU: Assembly Opposition Leader R Ashoka strongly criticised Congress for its inaction on internal reservations among Scheduled Castes, accusing the ruling party of dithering on a crucial issue that BJP had already set in motion with PM Narendra Modi’s approval.
Ashoka laid into Congress leaders, like Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, pointing to their speeches about internal reservations and caste census, but refusing to act. “They blow their own trumpets about the caste census, yet they can’t even deliver on critical issues like internal reservations,” he said. “The Supreme Court has given state governments the power to implement it, and the BJP government has already taken this forward. Why is Congress dragging its feet,” he asked.
Ashoka slammed the Congress government for its obsession with Special Investigation Teams (SITs). “All we see are SITs, which are another delaying tactic. They might as well form an SIT to investigate their own failures on internal reservations and the caste census. It’s gotten so bad that we need an SIT to investigate SITs,” he said. “Look at how BJP MLA Munirathna is treated versus Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni,” he said.
He accused Congress of looting the Mysore Urban Development Authority and Valmiki Development Corporation, where they have “pocketed huge amounts of money”.