Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah placates Dalits for now

Bengaluru: Playing it safe for now,  Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah on Monday persuaded various Dalit organisation leaders primarily belonging to Chaluvadis and Madigas to accept the state government's proposal to constitute an expert panel to look into demands for internal reservation within the community.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting at the CM’s Home Office here, Social Welfare minister, H. Anjaneaya said, "The CM has assured that the expert panel will look into every aspect before sending the final draft of the internal reservation proposal to  legal experts  in order to get all communities within Dalits get equitable justice."

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move, leaders belonging Chaluvadi community too endorsed the view   of Mr Anjaneya and asserted that they were never opposed to Madigas getting reservation benefits.  "The CM has assured the leaders that no one will lose out on any benefit and has asked the leaders to keep the issue on hold  until the upcoming polls. The Madiga community wants the Sadashiva Committee Report to be implemented as they stand to benefit from it," a Chaluvadi Association functionary told reporters.

Leaders belonging Madiga community made an unsuccessful attempt to secure a promise from the Chief Minister to get legal experts’ opinion within eight days of the meeting. However, the CM turned down their request stating that no time frame can be fixed on such matters of sensitive nature.  

Mr Anjaneya termed  the meeting a "big success" as until now, no one had waded into the internal reservation issue. "The government agreeing to implement the Justice Sadashiva Commission report is a big success as no government has shown the courage to open the  Sadashiva Commission report. This is a moral victory for those Madiga leaders fighting for internal reservation for three decades," he added.