HUBBALLI: Former minister PC Siddanagoudar said on Friday that over 10 lakh members of the Panchamasali community will take part in a rally in Bengaluru’s Palace Grounds on February 21, demanding 2A OBC status. He said that the demand is not new. “During his tenure as CM, BJP leader Jagadish Shettar constituted a committee under C M Udasi to consider the demand. The committee found our demand to be genuine and recommended reservation... but successive governments failed to act upon it,” he added.
The demand for reservation is only for education and government jobs. “Technical and legal glitches surface only while including our sect in the 2A category,” he said.Meanwhile, leaders of Karnataka Rajya Parishishta Jati Misalati Hechhala Samiti have demanded that the percentage of reservation for Scheduled Castes be increased to 35% from the present 15% within 30 days. If not, they would launch an agitation, they warned.