BENGALURU: Union Minister of State for Railways V Somanna on Sunday, while taking a dig at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has alleged that the latter has a political motive behind conducting the socio-economic and educational survey, as he wants to snub the dominant and the forward communities.
“It is nothing but a caste survey. He (Siddaramaiah) has been at the sinful job of snubbing the dominant castes and it will not do any good to him,” Somanna said.
Holding a survey handbook that has a portrait of former CM Devaraj Urs, Somanna went on to add that the former, who had implemented land reforms and ensured the tiller was the owner of the land, did not indulge in a “sinful” act like Siddaramaiah.
Somanna also took strong exception to the number of enumerators visiting his residence for the survey. The minister also took them to task, as he felt that the 60 questions were too much.
For many questions, Somanna asked the enumerators to write down the names of Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar as the answer.
When asked about his sub-caste, Somanna shot back, asking, “Which class are you putting Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in the survey.”
When asked at what age he got married, he replied, saying the enumerators should ask this to his parents. But eventually, he said he was 26 when he got married.
“I respect the feelings of DCM DK Shivakumar, who had also said that some questions were too personal and that the number of questions should be reduced. But he is also a party to the survey, being the DCM of the state. Were the questions framed without his knowledge?” he wondered.
He alleged that the survey was “unscientific and irritating” and urged the government to immediately stop it. He suggested setting up a technical committee to make the survey simpler.