Kalaburagi (PTI): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said the party-led government in Karnataka will deliberate on the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as 'caste census' in the cabinet and take an appropriate decision.

Declining to comment on the report, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said he had not seen it yet.

“It is left for the state government, every state does their own. This was not done by the central government. The state government will discuss in the cabinet and decide. I have not seen the report. The matter is left to the state government,” Kharge told reporters here.

Asked about the opposition to the report, he said, “(opposition) may be there. I have shared my opinion.”

Amid what looks like a caste conundrum, a special meeting of Karnataka cabinet, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, will discuss the contentious 'caste census', on Thursday.

Various communities, especially Karnataka's two dominant ones -- Vokkaligas and Veershaiva-Lingayats -- have expressed strong reservations about the survey that has been done, calling it "unscientific", and have demanded that it be rejected, and a fresh survey be conducted.

Objections have also been raised by various sections of society, and there are also strong voices against it from within the ruling Congress.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mullanpur, May 4 (PTI): Punjab Kings have picked Australian all-rounder Mitch Owen as a replacement for the injured Glenn Maxwell, who was ruled out of the remaining IPL season after fracturing his finger.

The Australian stalwart, who has had an underwhelming IPL season this year, could only manage 48 runs in seven games with six single-digit scores.

Maxwell suffered the injury before PBKS' rained out game against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on April 26 in which he was dismissed for seven runs.

He was replaced by Suryansh Shedge in the subsequent match against Chennai Super Kings, which PBKS won by four wickets.

"Punjab Kings have picked all-rounder Mitch Owen as a replacement for Glenn Maxwell, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 due to a broken finger," said an IPL statement.

The 23-year-old Owen, a right-hand batter and a right-arm pacer who has played 14 first-class games, will join the Shreyas Iyer-led franchise for Rs three crore.

"Mitch Owen, from Tasmania, Australia, has played 34 T20s and scored 646 runs, including two centuries and a highest score of 108. The Australian all-rounder also has 10 T20 wickets to his name," said the IPL statement.