BJP plans counter, as Karnataka CM prepares to decide on caste census
BENGALURU: With the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah cabinet prepared to take a decision on the implementation of the socioeconomic survey, also known as the caste census, carried out by the Backward Classes Commission, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has chalked out a plan to counter the government, by demanding that classification of Scheduled Caste quota be implemented.
“If they (Congress government) have a conscience, they should implement the internal reservation for the SC community, with the Supreme Court also having given its verdict as the state can take a decision and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in favour,” said Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka on Wednesday.
He further claimed that the previous Basavaraj Bommai government had increased the quota for SCs by 2 per cent, from 15 per cent to 17 per cent, and STs by 7 per cent, from 4 per cent, proportionate to their populations.
As the government’s move to implement the caste census would impress the SCs, STs, OBCs, and minorities, concerned leaders across party-lines, including BJP MLC N Ravikumar, have urged for the data to be released. The BJP wants to pinpoint that the Congress is averse to a major section of the Scheduled Caste community, by keeping the classification of the quota on hold for several decades, suggest sources.
The 6 per cent of the SC (Left) community was reportedly miffed with the Congress over the issue, and the BJP, by raking it up, could alienate the Grand Old Party further from the community, they added.
Congress-ruled states
Even as the social welfare department prepared the draft in this regard on the lines of the Bommai cabinet’s decision to classify the quota, the Siddaramaiah cabinet deferred it. The reason is the Congress high command, especially the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who wants to take credit for the classification of the SC quota, sources said.
Since he has been in an attempt to impress upon the Dalits, Rahul wants the classification of SC quota to be implemented simultaneously in Congress-ruled states, including Telangana, sources said.
Telangana was eager to implement the classification of the SC quota, as soon as the Supreme Court gave its judgment on August 1, 2024. But the Congress high command advised the government to defer it for some time and Karnataka too has faced a similar situation, observed a Congress leader from the SC community.