Census sets off Ambi-Anjaneya tiff

Bengaluru: Housing minister Ambareesh and social welfare minister, H. Anjaneya are involved in a slugfest over the caste census.

Two days after Mr Ambareesh took a dig at the caste census, Mr Anjaneya hit back and cautioned that ministers should speak proactively about the government programmes instead of criticising them. Inaugurating a health camp organised by Press Club of Bengaluru for its members on Friday, Mr Anjaneya said people have the discretion to share information about their families with enumerators of the caste census.

“People may or may not agree with government programmes. But they should not speak disrespectfully about the  programmes,” he hit back without mentioning Mr Ambareesh.

During his visit to the KPCC office, Mr Ambareesh had expressed serious displeasure over the caste census and took a dig at the survey. He had disclosed that his suggestion to hold a survey of shelterless people was turned down by Mr Siddaramaiah.

Mr Ambareesh did not share information about his caste and refused to participate in the survey. He said that he and his wife belonged to different castes and so, he could not enter one caste in the survey form. This had created a flutter in Congress circles.