The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Kumaraswamy flays violence

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Karnataka - Bangalore

Kumaraswamy flays violence

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad did not make any anti-Kannada statements during his recent visit to the city, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said here on Friday, citing a telephone conversation he had with the Minister.

Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a symposium organised by Bangalore University, Mr. Kumaraswamy condemned the violence by Kannada activists while demanding priority to Kannadigas in railway recruitment.

He supported their demand, but not the methods employed to express it, the former Chief Minister said. The authorities should strictly dealing with law-breakers, he added.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said that only a new policy at the Centre to give priority to locals in recruitment could result in the demand for recruiting Kannadigas in Railways being met.

Prefer locals

Meanwhile, the former Railway Minister C.K. Jaffer Sharief has said that

Wherever possible all government or quasi-government organisations should prefer locals for employment.

In a chat with presspersons at the Congress office here on Friday, Mr. Sharief, however, said that for organisations like the Indian Railways many positions that required skilled manpower could not be found locally and people from other areas had to be recruited.

Mr. Sharief said every Railway Minister faced such tricky situations, but the one which Minister for Railways Lalu Prasad was facing was particularly very regional in character.

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