MYSURU: The BJP government has slipped into poll mode, and is keen to expand its vote base by winning over Dalits and microscopic communities. It is reaching out to SC/STs with the ordinance on increasing reservation quota in proportion to their population in the state. The saffron party has planned a mega rally in Ballari, with the hope of encashing the ordinance which meets the long-pending demand of SC/STs, and is keen to cut into the Congress vote-bank and influence that Ahinda leader Siddaramaiah has on these communities.
The objective of the rally is to thank the BJP leadership, particularly Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, for exhibiting maturity and political will, that has raised eyebrows in rival parties. Though Opposition leader Siddaramaiah has claimed it was his government that favoured increasing SC/ST reservation, and the Justice Nagmohan Das Committee was constituted by the JDS-Congress coalition government, the BJP is in no mood to oblige. It has decided to enlighten the communities on the advantages of the quota ordinance.
BJP’s SC/ST leaders claim it is time to repay the party which included Parivaraya-Talwara, synonymous with the ST group, in the ordinance. Party leaders claim the SC/ST rally in Ballari will send a strong message across the country, and could give the BJP a toehold in this traditional Congress constituency. Transport Minister V Sriramulu, touring the state for the success of the rally, is painting Opposition leader Siddaramaiah black, accusing him of snubbing the demands of SC/STs when he was chief minister.
In Old Mysuru, Sriramulu announced that he is not after power, but prefers empowerment of the community. Lauding Bommai for taking all efforts to increase reservation quota, knowing it would have serious political implications, he claimed that when the BJP came to power, it created a separate ministry for Schedule Tribes.
Criticising the Congress, he claimed that leaders of the Yadav (Golla) community were stopped from meeting Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. He said there is mounting pressure to include many castes into SC/STs but this cannot be done until studies are complete and that the government is not in a hurry to meet this demand.