Congress brass wanted resurvey to nullify damage to govt

THE Congress high command's instruction to conduct a fresh caste survey is said to be aimed at nullifying the damage caused to the ruling Congress government after the stampede outside M Chinnaswamy Stadium that killed 11 people.

- DEVARAJ B HIREHALLI @ Bengaluru

The fate of the previous Socio-Economic and Educational Survey (SES-2015), which had been approved by the cabinet, will be decided at Thursday's cabinet meeting.

If not for the high command's intervention, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had planned to go ahead with its implementation at the special cabinet meeting at Nandi Hills on June 19.

The high command is alarmed as Siddaramaiah, towards the end of his first term as chief minister in 2018, had promised a separate religion status to the Lingayat community, but the issue backfired and the party got a severe drubbing at the hustings.

The top leadership did not want a repeat of it with the implementation of the caste survey, which it termed obsolete.

AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, defending the decision for a resurvey, said SES-2015 is ten years old.