Karnataka govt committed towards providing internal reservation among SCs: Siddaramaiah

PTI, Jan 5, 2025, 4:59 PM IST

Davangere: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said his government was committed towards providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes (SC).

Amid speculation over a change of guard in the ruling Congress in Karnataka, he said, any decisions regarding the state Congress president or the chief minister will be taken by the party high command, and that he will decide on filling a vacant post in his cabinet in consultation with the leadership.

“The Supreme Court has said that internal reservation has to be given, but as some have said that there is no empirical data, a commission has been formed headed by (Justice) Nagmohan Das. We are committed to providing internal reservation,” Siddaramaiah said in response to a question by reporters here.

The government in November had appointed retired High Court judge Justice H N Nagmohan Das to head a commission to recommend internal reservation among SCs.

A section of SCs, especially ‘SC Left’, have been demanding internal reservation alleging that only a few influential sub-castes were taking away a majority of the benefits while many communities were still marginalised.

In a landmark verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on August 1, 2024, it held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the SCs, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.

To a question about changing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, Siddaramaiah said, “It will be decided by the high command, not us. KPCC president, chief minister — everything is decided by the high command.” Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who has completed four years as president of the KPCC, is currently on an extension in the post.

On filling a vacant berth in the cabinet following the resignation of Minister B Nagendra following allegations against him in the alleged Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation scam, the CM said, “…I will discuss with the high command and fill that vacancy.” Regarding the Taluk and Zilla Panchayat polls, Siddaramaiah said, the matter is before the court, it has to be decided there, and the government is ready tp conduct the polls.

To a question about him attending a dinner with select Dalit Cabinet colleagues on Thursday night that had created buzz amid speculation over leadership change, the CM said, “Is the meeting over food wrong? Won’t you meet over food? Either we eat veg or non veg during food…when politicians meet over food it is painted differently, while it is not the case for others. We made it clear that we had met over food. There were no political discussions there.”