Mysuru: Shantaraju, president of Karnataka Dalit Welfare Trust, who is contesting in Chamundeshwari as an Independent, said on Monday that no political party is truly interested in the welfare of the
Dalits.
“Since Independence, political parties have only used Dalits as a vote bank to come to power. Be it
Congress,
BJP, or JD(S), all parties have exploited Dalits for their political gains. Dalits have are now aware of their ulterior motives.”
Stating that there is an anti-Congress wave in the state he said, “Dalits have realized how Congress has failed them. We demanded reservation in the private sector, we demanded the 55,000 backlogs be filled, but none of our demands were fulfilled.”
He charged BJP and JD(S) of being anti-Dalit. “Since the time H D Devegowda became the Prime Minister he has been against Dalits. Now JD(S) claims to be in support of the Dalits just before the elections. BJP MP Anantkumar Hegde openly said the Constitution will be changed.”
“Dalits in Chamundeshwari will support me. We tried fielding Dalits in four major constituencies but we finally decided that one person should contest from Chamundeshwari,” he added.