Siddaramaiah slams HDK over caste census

BENGALURU: As the leaders of the ruling and opposition parties continue to engage in a debate over the caste census, Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah on Friday accused former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of not allowing the then Backward Classes Welfare Minister in the JDS-Congress coalition government from presenting the caste census report.

Rejecting Kumaraswamy’s allegation that he had got the census report written, Siddaramaiah said the report was not ready at that time.  The Congress leader said he had directed the then Backward Classes Welfare Minister Puttaranga Shetty to get the report approved by the JDS-Congress coalition government, but the then Kumaraswamy opposed it.

Siddaramaiah said since he was the chairman of the coalition coordination committee he did not take up the issue further to avoid confrontation. Kumaraswamy had recently  criticised Siddaramaiah for talking about the caste census now and not discussing it when he was chairman of the coalition coordination committee. The JDS leader had also hit out at Siddaramaiah for politicising the issue. 

Siddaramaiah also questioned the current BJP government as to why it is not willing to accept the Backward Classes Commission report. He said his government had ordered for the survey as resources should be distributed equally and social justice should be achieved. The report was prepared with the help of school teachers and not by private agencies, Siddaramaiah said. The former chief minister asked the Congress workers to fight for social justice.

Dwarakanath joins Congress
Former Chairperson of Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission CS Dwarakanath on Friday joined the Congress in the presence of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and other party leaders.