‘State-wide protest if govt fails to implement SC internal quota’

The Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Friday, warned of a statewide agitation if the state government fails to implement internal reservation for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community in line with the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee report and the directions of the Supreme Court.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, former Chief Minister and BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai said that there was no need to convene a special Cabinet meeting to implement the measure.

“If Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was serious about the issue, the Karnataka government should immediately implement internal reservation as recommended by the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee and in accordance with the Supreme Court’s direction,” Bommai added. He alleged that the state government had been consistently unjust to the SC and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities and it failed to take a clear stand on matters concerning them.

He also said that the Advocate General Shashikiran Shetty had told the Karnataka High Court that a law on internal reservation had been enacted with the Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot’s approval. “If the law already exists, why is a special Cabinet meeting required?” he asked.

Bommai also alleged that divisions within the state Cabinet were delaying the decision, with one group supporting internal reservation and another opposing it. The Chief Minister, he claimed, had yielded to pressure from Ministers who were against the move.