All-India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president and veteran Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa on Saturday warned that the party would definitely face a setback in the Lok Sabha elections if the caste census report was accepted and released.
“The party will have to face a situation similar to what happened in the past during the Veerashaiva-Lingayat separate religion issue. We have been protesting because the caste census report is flawed. The contents of the report have already been leaked,” he said.
Citing flaws in the data collection process, Mr. Shivashankarappa demanded a thorough review of the report.
“The survey was inadequately conducted and the report was drafted in a manner that under-represented our community. There are many flaws in the data collected. The survey was not done at houses belonging to our community. If the Congress government accepts the report despite our protest, it will face a setback for sure in the coming polls,” he said, targeting his own party.
“We are also against this report just like the Vokkaliga community. The BJP and JD(S) are also opposing. I have also brought this to the notice of the Chief Minister. But what to do? The Chief MInister wants what others oppose,” he quipped.
Demanding that a fresh survey be done scientifically, Mr. Shivashankarappa said: “The original report is missing while H. Kantharaj, former chairman of the State backward classes commission, says that he had given a signed report. Meanwhile, the term of the incumbent chairman of the commission has been extended. Now, it remains to be seen what the government will do amid all this confusion. We will decide our future course of action after the government takes a call [on the issue].”
“Similar to what the Vokkaliga community members have done, we will also meet the Chief Minister and urge him to not accept the report,” he said.
Felicitation
The mahasabha will felicitate its honorary president Bheemanna Khandre at a programme that will be organised to commemorate his birth centenary on December 2, he said.
While AICC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge will inaugurate the programme, Chief MInister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar will participate in it, he added.
