Bengaluru, May 13 (PTI) Senior BJP leader R Ashoka on Wednesday alleged that the Congress government under Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has “cheated” the Scheduled Tribes community by reducing their reservation back to 3 per cent.
He also warned that a people’s movement would be launched and the party would fight against it.
“During the previous BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai, SC reservation was increased from 15 to 17 per cent and ST reservation from 3 to 7 per cent, based on population. This ensured fair reservation. However, the Congress government, under the guise of internal reservation among SCs, hatched a conspiracy and reduced the reservation quantum,” Ashoka, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, told reporters.
“The Congress has betrayed the entire Dalit community. The ST community, in particular, has suffered the greatest injustice with their reservation brought back down to 3 per cent. Is this Siddaramaiah’s pro-Dalit policy,” he asked.
The Scheduled Tribes will have to struggle for many more years to get this quantum increased again. The government should correct this immediately. “Otherwise, the people of this community will overthrow the government. The BJP will support this struggle,” he said.
Stating that discussions have already taken place within the party on this issue, Ashoka said, “We will turn it into a mass movement and fight. We will also hold discussions with leaders of communities such as Madiga and Alemari.” The ST community ministers should have raised their voice against reducing the community’s reservation back to 3 per cent and resigned, he said.
The previous BJP government had increased the reservation quota for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and for Scheduled Tribes from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, raising the state’s total reservation to 56 per cent, exceeding the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.
While this was still in court, the Congress government subsequently decided to provide internal reservation within the 17 per cent quota for SCs based on the 6:6:5 formula. However, since the High Court directed the government not to breach the 50 per cent reservation ceiling set by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney Case in 1992, the government has now recalibrated its internal reservation formula under the 15 per cent reservation quota for SCs.
On the NEET exam irregularities, Ashoka said the investigation has been handed over to the CBI and immediate action has been taken. The Central government will correct this system.
“The Congress should first look at how many times question papers have been leaked in KPSC (Karnataka Public Service Commission) exams and correct that,” he said.
Regarding the elections for five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), Ashoka said a meeting will be held at the BJP office on May 15, as he demanded that the polls should be held at the earliest.
“The party has prepared for the elections. We will discuss candidate selection, booth committees, etc. GBA has an annual income of around Rs 4,000 crore. Even though Mumbai and Delhi have higher revenue, they manage it well…..it is not right to postpone the elections this way. They should conduct the elections as soon as possible,” he said. PTI KSU KH
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