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The State Permanent Backward Classes Commission has prepared the caste census or socio-economic survey report and is waiting for a signal for the CM to submit it. Lingayat-Veerashaivas are the politically influential caste group. They are said to have backed the Congress in the May 10 assembly polls helping it win a landslide. Vokkaligas, the second largest community, have already petitioned the CM urging him not to accept the report, and the signatories include Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, besides some Congress MLAs.
The Veerashaiva Mahasabha, led by veteran Congress lawmaker Shamnur Shivashankarappa, has resisted the caste census report, and is planning a big rally in Davanagere on December 24 to send a political message to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the party that they will only alienate the community if they accept the report.
The development comes within a week of the Vokkaligara Sangha, the umbrella body of Vokkaligas, giving a petition to the CM, urging him not to accept the survey, conducted by the Karnataka State Backward Class Commission. The signatories to this petition include Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvaraswamy as well as Congress MLAs.
Siddaramaiah did not agree with the perception of his party colleague, insisting that his government had treated everyone equally. “Ours is a secular government, which functions above caste lines. All our programmes including Anna Bhagya, Shakti, Gruha Jyothi and Gruha Lakshmi reach members of all communities," the CM told the media in Bengaluru.