A complaint has been lodged at the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement against BJP MLC Siddaraju, accusing him of obtaining a fake caste certificate of Scheduled Tribe (ST) which came to light after he contested the last assembly elections from H D Kote constituency reserved for STs.
S H Subhash, former vice-president of KPCC ST wing lodged a complaint on May 5. He alleged that Siddaraju had furnished a fake caste certificate, claiming to be an ST, though he is from the ‘Besta’ or ‘Parivara’ community. “If Siddaraju is an ST, how was he able to contest from a constituency reserved for OBC in the election held to Mysore City Corporation from ward no 7 in 1996?” he questioned.
A copy of the complaint available with Express says Siddaraju originally belonged to ‘Besta’ or ‘Parivara’ community, but he managed to obtain an ST certificate. During his primary education, he did not get any reservation benefits and no caste name was mentioned in his transfer certificate.
Further, it is alleged that Siddaraju had not submitted the ST certificate during his admission to Mahajana’s College for BA and his caste was mentioned as ‘backward class’ while studying PUC at Banumaiah’s College.
What is strange is that the caste of Siddaraju’s younger brother Shekhar is mentioned as ‘Parivara’ during admission to first standard but changed to ‘Nayaka’ in the fifth standard. Shekhar’s father name which was ‘Siddaiah’ in the academic records got changed as ‘Siddanaika’ later.
Records supporting the complaint revealed that the caste of Siddaraju’s elder brother Mahadevaiah is mentioned as ‘Besta’ in his service register at the ESI Hospital where he had worked. Hence there is a need for thorough probe and punish Siddaraju, Subhash has appealed. When contacted, Siddaraju said he will welcome a probe and legal action, if any.