Bengaluru: The rush to please every community under the sky has begun in right earnest with the ruling Congress party planning to offer quotas to even Brahmins and Vaishyas based on their population in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly polls. Highly placed sources told Deccan Chronicle that quotas for these communities would help wean them away from the BJP, which they had staunchly supported all these years. After preliminary discussions on this subject, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is learnt to be waiting for the official submission of the social-economic survey report to measure the backwardness of all castes and communities in the state. The voters of these two communities are spread across almost all Assembly segments but they are not the deciding factor except in a few seats. In fact, Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya has been batting for reservation for these two communities for the last two years citing their backwardness.
The move to woo the Brahmins and Vaishyas comes soon after the CM placated the strong Lingayat vote bank by making the display of the portrait of 12th century social reformer Basavanna's portraits mandatory in all government offices. He continued attempts to keep thems happy by rechristening Karnataka State Women's University after Rani Chennamma, a queen from Kittur province who took on the mighty Britishers. The Lingayats even organised a felicitation for the CM in Bengaluru-a source of joy for Congressmen as the dominant community holds the key in most constituencies in North-Karnataka and have been a strong voter base of the BJP.
Even the Jain community has not been ignored with a grant of Rs 160 crore announced for the Mahamastakabhisheka of the monolith statue of Bahubali in Shravanabelagola in Hassan, which is held once in 12 years. The Jain community was sore with the BJP led NDA government as it refused to release Rs 400 crore for providing infrastructure in the town during the mega event.
AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal has reportedly asked KPCC office-bearers to identify smaller communities too, which have traditionally voted against the Congress. When contacted, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao said the party favours a quota for Brahmins and Vaishyas but it all depends on the census report.
This cannot be legally tenable unless it is supported with proper proof like data on the current social and economic condition of these two communities as recorded in the census report, he said.
