Daijiworld Media Network: Udupi (NP)

Udupi, Jul 16: MLC Keshava Prasad alleged that the Congress government has been unjust to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and demanded that any caste survey report be discussed in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly before implementation.

Addressing a press conference, he said the Kantharaju Report was prepared during the Congress government's tenure by the Backward Classes Commission to assess the socio-economic status of backward communities. "The government must explain why it failed to accept the report despite spending nearly Rs 165 cr on the exercise," he said.

He further stated that another commission headed by Jayaprakash Hegde was later constituted, and it too submitted its report. "The Chief Minister had publicly spoken about releasing the report, but when the government was preparing to implement it, Rahul Gandhi allegedly threw it into the dustbin. This is an insult to the backward classes," he alleged.

Referring to the report prepared under Madhusudhan Naik, Keshava Prasad questioned whether deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar would implement it. He said the report was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, but a change in the Chief Minister's post followed soon after. He also recalled that the Kaka Kalelkar Commission submitted its report in 1956, but it was never accepted.

Drawing comparisons with other states, he said Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had released similar reports within a year, and questioned why Karnataka had failed to do the same. He insisted that if the Madhusudhan Naik report is to be implemented, it should first be debated in a special session of the Legislature.

"We are not against conducting surveys. Our objection was to calling it a caste census," he clarified, adding that his party would take a final stand only after the report is discussed in the Vidhana Soudha.

Keshava Prasad also referred to the demand from Tamil Nadu regarding inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

Commenting on the ongoing protests involving climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, he alleged that certain political parties were misleading him and attempting to give the agitation a different direction by raising issues such as ‘Azadi’ and Kashmir. He further said that the party leaders are having food and enjoying their time while he is having his hunger strike for the students and they are using him for the protest.

Kuthyar Naveen Shetty, district president; Kishore Kumar, MLC; Praveen Shetty Gurme, Shashank Shivathaya and others were present.