BENGALURU: Former minister H Anjaneya here on Sunday urged the Congress government to take measures to allay fears of Madigas, as some members of the community are planning to move court to get a stay on the implementation of internal reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs).
“The BJP government brought in the reservation and recommended it to the Centre. It was never implemented. There is a fear that the present internal reservation would be stopped again,” he said at a seminar on the ‘Internal Reservation: Future Steps’ held at Gandhi Bhavan, organised by the SC (Left) Madiga Community Employees’ Association.
He felt that the 59 SC nomadic communities, termed ‘most backward’, have felt letdown as the 1% separate quota for them was revised and they have now been included in the C category among Bhovis, Lambanis, Korachas and Koramas, termed as less backward in the Justice HN Nagmohan Das commission report.
Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa said, “If ministers Dr G Parameshwara, Dr HC Mahadevappa and others (from SC right) had not joined hands, we would not have got internal reservation. Some people thought I would retire if the internal reservation was not implemented.”
The former Kolar MP said he never wanted to contest the Assembly polls, but LoP in LS Rahul Gandhi insisted. “My becoming a minister helped implement the reservation,” he said. He appealed to the CM to ensure that the quota is implemented in recruitment and also in promotions in the government. The cabinet, scheduled to meet on September 4, will discuss the issue, he added.