Govt will do whatever is possible within the ambit of law and constitution: CM Yediyurappa
Reservation demands
Bengaluru, Feb 10: Amid demands from various communities in the state for better reservation, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Wednesday said that his government would do whatever was possible within the ambit of the law and the Constitution.
"We will put in honest efforts to do whatever is possible within the ambit of the Constitution and law.
What has been done in other states in the country, I can do it here," he told reporters here in response to a question.
The Chief Minister said the matter was being discussed and after consulting legal experts, the Advocate General and other important people, government would try to do whatever was possible.
There have been demands to revise the reservation for the Panchamasali Lingayat, Kuruba and Valmiki communities.
While the Panchamasali sect are asking for Category 2A status, the Kurubas are agitating for the Scheduled Tribe tag.
The Valmiki community too has been demanding that the reservation for ST be hiked from 3 per cent to 7.5 per cent.
Pontiffs of these politically influential communities are leading the agitation, pushing the Yediyurappa-led government to a difficult spot.
Kudalasangama Panchamasali Mutt pontiff Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami, who is spearheading the Category 2A stir, is leading a padayatra to Bengaluru to press for their demand.
Yediyurappa recently ordered the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes to prepare a report on including the Panchamasali sub-sect under Category 2A.
The Kurubas too had recently organised a padayatra, led by Kaginele Kanakaguru Peeta seer Niranjanandapuri Swami, from Kaginele to Bengaluru and had organised a mammoth rally on Sunday near here, demanding the ST tag.
They are currently OBCs in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, Maharshi Valmiki Gurupeetha Seer Prasannananda Swami has warned that he would go on an indefinite fast if the hike in reservation was not announced within a month.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll climbs to 13; body of last missing person recovered
Jabalpur (PTI): The bodies of a five-year-old boy and his uncle were recovered from Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district on Sunday morning, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy to 13, police said.
The boat, around 20 years old and operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening.
"The bodies of Mayuram (5) and his uncle Kamraj (around 50), an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, were found floating and were fished out of the dam," Bargi Sub Divisional Officer of Police Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI over the phone.
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All 13 missing persons identified have now been accounted for, he said, adding the bodies were sent to a government hospital for postmortem.
Teams comprising around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, along with personnel from the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, were involved in the search operation, the police said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the vessel, 28 were rescued after the incident, according to the police.
The CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat, though the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far, they said.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members. It also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
