Karnataka - Bellary   

Reservation: support for reclassification

Staff Correspondent

`Deve Gowda's suggestion is not against any community'

H.D.Deve Gowda

BELLARY: N. Pratap Reddy, General Secretary of State unit of Janata Dal (S), has endorsed the views of his party president, H.D. Deve Gowda, on reclassification of reservation to backward classes. This, he told presspersons here on Sunday, would ensure that the purpose for which reservation had been made was achieved.

Mr. Pratap Reddy said it was true that reservation benefits reached only a couple of communities, especially Kurubas and Idigas, classified under Category 2 (A) while the others were left high and dry.

Reiterating that the classification was done with an intention to provide political strength to some backward classes which had no representation in administration, Mr. Pratap Reddy urged the Government to take steps to reclassify reservation so that the benefits reached a large section in that category.

He said reclassification as suggested by Mr. Deve Gowda was not against any community and there was no need to add motives to it.

"It is clear that reservation benefits granted have not reached a majority of the communities in that category and the party was thinking of getting reservation reclassified," he said. Mr. Pratap Reddy said a district-level convention of the Janata Dal (S) would be held in the first week of October. Mr. Deve Gowda, Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash, and Ministers, including P.G.R. Sindhia, D. Manjunath, will participate.

Deve Gowda criticised

Bidar Staff Correspondent reports:

The Akhila Karnataka Kurubara Sangha has criticised the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda for demanding that reservation given to Kurubas and Idigas should be reduced to four per cent.

Mr. Deve Gowda has exposed himself by his demand, it said and added that it is a conspiracy to divide the backward classes.

"Grudge against some individuals is making him speak thus. Every one in the State knows this. We hope he also realises that we know it," said the working president of the sangha, Raghunath Malkapure, who hails from Bidar.

"We will shortly call a meeting of the sangha executive committee and decide the next course of action," he said.

Mr. Deve Gowda has said that only the Kurubas and Edigas have enjoyed a major share of benefits meant for other backward classes.

He said this is false. There is no evidence to support it. The former Prime Minister has said that internal reservation should be implemented immediately, without involving any commission.

Such undemocratic approach is unacceptable and it will no longer be tolerated, Mr. Malkapure said.

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