Congress will hike quota for all communities if voted to power: Siddaramaiah

Siddaramaiah said he is optimistic that Congress would come to power this time and with a simple majority

If the Congress party comes to power post the Assembly elections 2023, the government will work towards increasing the overall quantum of reservation for all communities without snatching it away from one community and by appropriate procedure of constitutional amendment, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said on Saturday.

Interacting with DH-PV as part of ‘Poll Talk with Siddaramaiah’, the senior leader lashed out at the BJP for its recent decision on increasing the reservation for Vokkaligas and Lingayats by pushing the Muslims out of the OBC quota. “What they asked is for 2A category. Instead the government created new categories and pushed Muslims out. What is the use of this for anyone,” he sought to know.

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“The Congress party is in favour of reservation. In fact, the Justice Nagamohan Das committee was constituted during the coalition government when Priyank Kharge was the social welfare minister. Increase reservation for Lingayats and Vokkaligas, by all means. All we are asking this government is, why was it done by snatching away reservation from Muslims? Also, why didn’t the government push for Constitutional amendment for reservation increase, without which the government decision will not stand valid,” he further questioned.

He alleged that the government decision was done keeping only elections in mind and not for social justice.

Siddaramaiah was optimistic that the party would come to power this time and with a simple majority. People are tired of the 40% commission government, he said. “There is corruption, inflation, unemployment. There is no safety for women. They are just playing politics of hate. They are trying to consolidate votes through polarisation and Hindutva. There is a wave in favour of Congress and the party will get a clear majority, he said. Taking a dig at Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he quipped: “I never expected that Bommai will preside the pinnacle of corruption.”

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As for talks about multiple CM aspirants from the Congress party, Siddaramaiah said there was nothing wrong in people holding aspirations to become the CM. “In a democratic set up, the elected representatives will choose their leader. Based on this, the high command will take a call on who should be the chief minister,” he said.

He added that there was no issue between him and KPCC president D K Shivakumar. The BJP was trying to create a rift between them and it won’t work, he said.

Last election

On his son vacating the Varuna seat for him, Siddaramaiah said his son himself had encouraged him to contest from Varuna. “My native village is in this constituency. After I contested from here I became the Leader of the Opposition once and also the chief minister. There is emotional attachment. This is my last election. I wanted to contest and win from my native place once,” he said.

Women’s reservation

Commenting about lack of representation for women in political parties, Siddaramaiah vouched for reservation for women candidates in both the Assembly and the Parliament. It is not possible to get justice otherwise. If we go by workers and party surveys, it is difficult to accommodate them. There has to be reservation to give them justice, he said.