After Ashoka hands SC/ST quota hike gazette copy, seer calls off dharna

BENGALURU: The Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government has managed to tackle the issue of quota hike for SC/STs, with Valmiki Gurupeetha pontiff Sri Prasannanandapuri Swami called off his dharna which had entered its 257th day at Freedom Park on Monday. Revenue Minister 

R Ashoka handed over the government’s gazetted order copy on the hike of quota for SCs, from 15 per cent to 17 per cent; and for STs, from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, following Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s assent for the Ordinance brought by the Bommai cabinet, to the protesting seer.  

“Though the Governor was in Madhya Pradesh, we got his assent, and gave this as a Deepavali gift to the SC/ST community. Other than Bommai, no leader would have taken the risk of hitting out at a ‘beehive’. We got it done before the October 25 solar eclipse, as the seer had insisted,” he explained.  

He observed that Bommai had scored a masterstroke, claiming that the Opposition had been trying to encash over the issue and wished that the seer continued his stir until the 2023 Assembly polls. “Also, Sri Nirmalanandanath Swami had called me over phone with regard to the hike in quota for Vokkaligas too. I said that the government will give all communities justice. And we will take a decision after a deliberation with the seer,” he said.