BJP warns Karnataka govt over ‘silence on internal quota’

Bengaluru: Expressing displeasure over the government's continued silence on the issue of internal reservation for marginalized communities, BJP state general secretary P Rajeev on Monday accused the Congress government of showing disregard to vulnerable sections of society.

Rajeev told a press conference here that the one-week deadline given to the government to respond to the concerns was fast approaching, but there had been no communication from the government. "It has only two days left," Rajeev said.

"We will wait till 5 pm on Wednesday. After that, we will announce our next course of action," he said.

Rajeev criticized the government for implementing the internal reservation in  an "unscientific and unconstitutional manner".

He said the policy was introduced without following procedures, sans supporting studies and in violation of Supreme Court guidelines.

He drew attention to the internal reservation structure introduced by the previous BJP government under former CM Basavaraj Bommai, which, he said, had given 4.5% reservation to four major castes — Bovi, Banjara, Koracha and Korama — and 1% reservation to 59 nomadic castes.

He said though these reservations were listed under two different categories, together they benefited 63 communities. The communities, according to him, were entitled to a total of 5.5% reservation.