Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar meets Cong's Vokkaliga legislators on caste survey report
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has held discussions with Congress legislators from his Vokkaliga community regarding the "caste census" and said the opinion expressed at the meeting will be shared with the Cabinet on April 17.
While he did not share details, the senior Congress leader said they discussed on what has to be told to the cabinet in one voice.
"I have tried to inform our legislators about the contents of the report to an extent. The legislators have shared their opinion. We have discussed on what has to be told to the cabinet in one voice and we will place it accordingly,” Shivakumar said.
Other than Vokkaliga Congress legislators, Ministers Ramalinga Reddy, Krishna Byre Gowda, Sudhakar, Cheluvarayaswamy, and former State Backward Classes Commission Chairperson Jayaprakash Hegde, among others attended the meeting held on Tuesday night.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' report was placed before the cabinet last Friday, and it will be discussed at a special cabinet meeting scheduled on April 17.
The findings of the survey are reportedly contrary to the "traditional perception" with regard to the numerical strength of various castes, especially the dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, making it a politically sticky issue. Ministers from these two communities are said to be preparing to place their objections during the next cabinet meeting, sources said.
The Vokkaligara Sangha, the apex body of the influential Vokkaliga community, earlier on Tuesday officially registered its strong protest to the survey report, calling it "unscientific”.
They have urged the state government to reject it and conduct a fresh survey while warning of strong agitation if the government proceeds with it.
The survey report, the details of which are not officially out yet, reportedly estimates the population of the Lingayat community at 66.35 lakh and the Vokkaliga community population is said to be at 61.58 lakh.
Asked whether the Vokkaliga legislators and ministers are fine with the community’s population figures mentioned in the report, Shivakumar said, "We are not worried or thinking about one community, as Congress president and ministers, protecting all communities is our duty and we will work accordingly.
"We are not ready to find mistakes in the system that has been followed while preparing the report, they have done a detailed exercise. Opposition parties are trying to create confusion through media, we will respond to it," he added.
Noting that it was the previous Congress party government that had commissioned the survey in 2015 and crores of rupees had been spent on it, he said, a section of media is reporting away from the facts regarding the contents of the survey report stating that the Muslim population was more.
Earlier, Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress president, was a signatory, along with a couple of other Vokkaliga ministers, to a memorandum submitted by the community to the chief minister, requesting that the report and the data be rejected.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
