BENGALURU: ALL-India Congress Committee (AICC) Scheduled Castes department chairperson Rajendra Pal Gautam on Wednesday said that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge can become the country’s PM if INDIA bloc gets a majority in the next General Election as LOP in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, whose mission is to ensure social justice through power sharing, would sacrifice the top post.
“There is every possibility of Kharge becoming the PM, which is why we are strengthening the SC department. Rahul is a pure-hearted person, and like his family members who sacrificed (PM post), he too would sacrifice, as his mission is to provide social justice. Even in Karnataka, a Dalit would become the CM if the time comes,” Gautam told TNIE on the sidelines of his department’s office-bearers meeting, which he held at the KPCC office in Bengaluru.
Gautam urged the Union Government and the Congress-ruled states to implement reservations in education and employment in private sector. “After the BJP came to power, the Centre has outsourced Group-4 jobs and cut down 50% of Group 1, 2, and 3 jobs, of which 50% are outsourced, putting an end to job security. I have written to the CMs of all Congress-ruled states and will meet Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah in this regard,” he said, adding that the UPA government in 2006 had brought in the 93rd amendment to the Constitution to enable the state governments to mandate reservation in private higher education institutions and inserted Clause 5 to Article 15 to make special provisions.
“In 2014, even as the Supreme Court pronounced that it was legal, the Modi government did not implement it,” he said.
On allegations that the Siddaramaiah government was diverting SCP/TSP grants, he said that his department will keep a close watch on it. Meanwhile, he defended the implementation of the internal quota in Karnataka.
“The government did its best, but sharing quota data is a daunting task, and if there was injustice to the nomadic SCs, there could be some modifications in the future,” he said. Gautam, a two-time AAP MLA from Delhi, switched to Congress recently.