Amidst the continuing calls for and opposition to incorporate the Kurubas underneath the Scheduled Tribes class, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah stated Tuesday that the general quota for STs must be elevated if the group had been to be introduced underneath the class.
The remarks got here amidst calls by just a few Valmiki group (falling underneath the ST class) teams to boycott the Valmiki Jayanthi celebrations held on Tuesday, to protest the state authorities’s stance, which is taken into account to be in favour of together with Kurubas within the ST record.
In his tackle throughout the Valmiki Jayanthi celebrations, Siddaramaiah stated one mustn’t safe advantages by taking them from one other group. This was in response to allegations that granting ST standing to Kurubas would hinder the progress of the Valmiki group – probably the most quite a few ST group within the state.
Story continues under this advert
On the row over the inclusion of Kurubas underneath the ST class, Siddaramaiah stated the present demand to incorporate Kurubas underneath ST was not initiated by his authorities. “It was BJP chief Okay S Eshwarappa who fought for it, after which former CM Basavaraj Bommai advisable it to the Centre. The Centre has solely sought some clarifications on that advice,” he added.
The chief minister additionally identified that he and former MP V S Ugrappa appealed to then CM Ramakrishna Hegde to advocate the inclusion of Valmiki and Kuruba communities underneath the ST record. He stated that although Hegde forwarded the request to the Centre, it didn’t materialise then.
“Later, by the efforts of Ugrappa, and with the assist of (former PM) H D Deve Gowda after which Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, the Valmiki group was included underneath ST,” he stated.
The Kuruba group, to which Siddaramiah belongs, are among the many most populous in Karnataka with a inhabitants of round 50 lakh. They at the moment fall underneath the Different Backward Lessons class within the reservation matrix of the Karnataka Authorities.