Bommai should be cautious on reservation issue: Deve Gowda

Already several communities are enjoying 2A category benefit, Deve Gowda said

Cautioning the BJP Government in Karnataka on granting 2A category reservation to Panchamasali Lingayat community, former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Thursday said the state government must know the impact on other communities who are already in 2A category before including the new community.

"Already several communities are enjoying 2A category benefit. If the government includes Panchamashali in 2A category, what would be the fate of other communities who were already in that category," he told reporters here.

Several communities were demanding more share in reservation in different categories. Before including any communities in any category, the state government must know it's impact on existing communities, he said.

Vokkaligas are also demanding increase their share in reservation, he said.

Several powerful communities are also demanding reservation. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai should be cautious on this issue, he said.

The Panchamasali activists have been demanding a share of the 15 per cent reservation given to Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the state instead of a separate five per cent quota allotted to Lingayats.