BELAGAVI: Two ministers were gheraoed by members of the Karnataka Pradesh Kurubara Sangha (KPKS) who were staging a dharna in front of the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha demanding the inclusion of Kurubara community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category, in Belagavi on Tuesday.
Minister for Small Scale Industries MTB Nagaraj and Minister for Social Welfare and Backward Classes Kota Srinivas Poojary had reached the venue to pacify the protesters that their demands would be looked into. However, police had to be called in to escort the ministers out of the tense situation.
After addressing the protesters, Nagaraj climbed down the stage and was about to leave, when few KPKS leaders objected to him leaving. They said that until Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah visited the protesters, they would not let him go.
By that time, Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary reached the spot and he too assured the agitators that he will take up their demands with the chief minister and reply to them by evening. But the agitators were not convinced and instead threatened to lay siege over the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha. Police had to step in to free Poojary from the protesters. The protesters complained that the Kurubara community is economically and educationally backwards.
Meanwhile, cutting across party lines, MLAs demanded that the Kadu Golla community be accorded the Scheduled Tribe tag. During Zero Hour, BJP MLA Goolihatti Shekar raised the matter stating that the community deserves to be recognised as a tribe.