The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Congress committed to social and economic justice: Kharge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Congress committed to social and economic justice: Kharge

Special Correspondent

N. Manjunath takes over as president of the KPCC's Scheduled Caste cell

BANGALORE: Congress leaders on Saturday appealed to the poor and Dalits to foil the designs of the upper castes, who had kept them away from the mainstream of society and denied them social justice and the benefits provided by the Government.

Addressing party workers and members of the Schedule Caste cell of the party, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president M. Mallikarjun Kharge said the Congress was committed to providing social and economic justice to the downtrodden. Social discrimination existed because of unequal sharing of economic resources. It was only the Congress that had enabled leaders from different castes to become chief ministers.

Earlier, N. Manjunath, MLC, took over as president of the Schedule Caste cell of the KPCC. He is the son of the late T.N. Narasimha Murthy, former Minister.

Mr. Kharge criticised the Government's decision to invite the former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee for a programme on August 21 to dedicate the Alamatti dam in Bagalkot district to the nation. Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy should have invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and not Mr. Vajpayee, he said. The party was not against the invitation extended to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to inaugurate the dam, he added.

Call for united struggle

The former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who joined the Congress recently, said the BJP was against an egalitarian society and social change. He called for a united struggle by farmers and the poor against social and economic discrimination.

He said the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who had been against the implementation of the Chinnappa Reddy (third Karnataka Backward Classes) Commission and Mandal Commission recommendations on backward classes, was now suggesting to the Government to issue a notification providing for internal quota for Category II A of Other Backward Classes. Mr. Deve Gowda had an ulterior motive in demanding an internal quota, he alleged.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly N. Dharam Singh called upon the backward classes to support the Congress to bring it back to power.

The former Ministers D.K. Shivakumar and V. Somanna, both MLAs, and Tejaswini Sriramesh, MP, spoke.

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