Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has dared Congress to tinker with reservation that was given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by his government and said that he took the risk and fulfilled the demands of these communities which were pending for three decades.
He was addressing a gathering during a roadshow in Shahapur city on Friday.
Mr. Bommai, who strongly criticised the Congress and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramiah, said that the Congress has only used SCs and STs as vote bank so far and done nothing for their welfare and development.
“People of Scheduled Castes have been asking 2% reservation while Scheduled Tribes 4%. But, the Congress when it was in power kept it pending for three decades. I took a strong an bold decision and increased reservation from 15% to 17% for SCs and from 3% to 7% for STs. Now, people of these communities have become aware about the injustice done by the Congress and are supporting the BJP,“ Mr. Bommai said.
He said that the Congress divided the nation after Independence. And, it suffered defeat when it tried to divide Veerashaiva Lingayat on caste basis. But, his government respected their rights enshrined in the Constitution and gave them and also the Vokkaligas 2% more reservation each.
Expressing the confidence of the party winning the Shahapur constituency, he said that there is a saffron wave everywhere in the State. “If KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar has the guts, he can make an effort stop it,” he challenged.
He said that he wanted to develop Shahapur like Shorapur where Narasimha Naik is contesting on BJP ticket. Mr. Bommai said that Shorapur has made progress in infrastructure, education and health sectors. “If you bless Ameenraddi Patil Yalagi, who is the BJP candidate from Shahapur, the taluk will see development in all sectors,” he added.
BJP MLA Narasimha Naik, Ameenraddy Patil Yalagi and Sharanabhupal Reddy and others were present.
