BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will head the All-India Congress Committee’s (AICC) Other Backward Classes (OBC) Advisory Council, set up to understand the problems faced by the communities and formulate a strategy to provide solutions to them. The first meeting of the council will be held on the premises of the KPCC office in Bengaluru on July 15.
Although Siddaramaiah is reluctant to enter national politics, the Congress high command has elevated him to serve at the national level, projecting the AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits) leader as the party’s face of the Backward Classes.
The council will provide advice on the problems and challenges of OBCs across the country and will also give suggestions on the steps to be taken for their development.
AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge recently approved the formation of the council. The council comprises 24 members, including four former CMs. Senior Congress MLC BK Hariprasad and former Karnataka CM M Veerappa Moily are also on the board. Siddaramaiah had recently written to Hariprasad seeking his suggestions. As many as 90 Congress leaders from across the country have been invited for the meeting. Also, 10 former Union Ministers will be present.
The meeting is likely to take “historic decisions with regard to providing social justice to the backward classes and finding solutions to the problems faced by them,” stated a press release.
The members of the council are — Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, V Narayanaswamy, Sachin Pilot,Gurdeep Singh Sappal, Arun Yadav, Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar, V Hanumantha Rao, Amit Chawda, Mahesh Kumar Goud, Ponnam Prabhakar, S Jothimani, Srikant Jena, Kamleswar Patel, Ajay Kumar Lallu, Subhashini Yadav, Adoor Prakash Dhanendra Sahu, Heena Kavre, Dr Anil Jaihind, Convener of the Advisory Board and secretary Jitender Baghel.