Gowda dares govt to issue GO on internal reservation

"If the Government is committed on implementing internal reservation, why the delay? Let the Government notify the orders tomorrow itself," Gowda said addressing a press conference in Bangalore.

He said the JD(S) had been pressing for internal reservation for the last 15 years. Gowda said he had even written to the then coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy in May 2006 to implement the same. "However, the move was dropped as Yeddyurappa was against its implementation," Gowda said.

He accused Yeddyurappa of indulging in caste-politics. "Of the 18 universities in the State, as many as 13 Vice-Chancellors are from the Lingayat community," he said accusing the CM of projecting candidates from his own community.

Gowda said the JD(S) had always stood for uplifting the members of the backward classes.
"Infact, it was during my tenure that the reservation quota for Vokkaligas was reduced from nine to four per cent. I even removed the community from the list of backward classes," he said countering Yeddyurappa's charges that Gowda was using the Vokkaliga community as a vote bank.

The decision of the Government to clip the wings of the State Backward Classes Commission itself was indicative of its intentions, Gowda charged.