CASTE CENSUS: LINGAYATS AND VOKKALIGAS MAY ADOPT WAIT-AND-WATCH APPROACH POST CABINET DISCUSSION

Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the past had announced that the caste ceusus would be discussed in the Cabinet, it did not materialise allegedly owing to pressure from his Cabinet colleagues from the dominant communities

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The politically dominant, land-owning Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, which have for long opposed the socio, economic and educational survey (caste census) conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes are expected to adopt a “wait and watch” approach on the outcome of the Friday's Cabinet meeting, where the issue is likely to be discussed. It has been nearly a decade since the survey was completed.

Sources said that the “sudden” decision to bring the issue before the Cabinet, apparently nudged by the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, at the Ahmedabad Congress session earlier this week, had taken both communities by surprise.

This had made a coordinated response difficult immediately, said the sources.

Not done earlier