Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah holds meeting on Sadashiva Commission report; Dalit leaders walk out

BENGALURU: A meeting called by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today to discuss allocation of funds for the downtrodden communities saw Dalit leaders walk out, demanding that the government make clear its stand on internal reservation among scheduled castes.

Drama unfolded during the pre-budget meeting here as the Dalit leaders insisted that the  government clarify its stand on the A J Sadashiva Commission report.

The meet at the Chief Minister's residence was to discuss allocation of funds for various welfare schemes for the downtrodden communities.

As soon it began, Bahujan Samaj Party state coordinator Marasandra Muniyappa and Dalit Sangharsh Samiti president N Murthy demanded that the government make known its stand on report.

They surrounded Siddaramaiah and refused to heed to his plea to come up with suggestions.

Apparently unhappy with the ruckus caused by the two leaders, the chief minister said he would leave the meeting hall.

However, the Dalit leaders boycotted the meeting and walked out.

Later, Murthy accused Siddaramaiah of dividing the Dalit communities "hurting their interests."

"We toiled for 45 years to unite various Dalit communities and ensure that they received their benefits.

However, Siddaramaiah is obstructing our work to uplift Dalits," he said.

"Siddaramaiah came to power with the help of Dalits and today he is working against their interests. We will teach Congress a lesson in the 2018 assembly elections," Murthy added.

BSP leader Muniyappa said Siddaramaiah was insisting on seeking the opinion from Advocate General (regarding the implementation of Sadashiva commission report), which he said was not required.

The commission had recommended reclassification of all scheduled castes into four groups of Right Community, Left Community, Touchables and Other Scheduled Castes for equitable distribution of the overall reservation.

The objective behind setting it up was to examine whether the benefits for the scheduled caste reached all sub-sects equally.