Will Not Take a Hasty Decision on Caste Census: K'taka Dy CM

Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday said that the government will not take any hasty decision regarding the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the "caste census", that was recently tabled before the state cabinet.

- Agencies

BENGALURU: Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Sunday said that the government will not take any hasty decision regarding the Socio-Economic and Education Survey report, popularly known as the "caste census", that was recently tabled before the state cabinet.

He said the cabinet will go through the report and discuss it, and will do justice to all based on the facts, as he also called the statements being made against the report as "political".

The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' report was placed before the cabinet on Friday, and it will be discussed at a special cabinet meeting scheduled on April 17.

The Commission, under its then chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde, submitted the report to chief minister Siddaramaiah on February 29 last year, amid objections raised by certain sections of society and voices against it from within the ruling Congress.

"The CM has spoken about it. I have not yet seen the report as I was visiting Belagavi and Mangaluru yesterday. It has to be discussed in the cabinet. Apparently, the CM has said that it will be discussed in the assembly too. No one will take any hasty decision," Shivakumar said.

Speaking to reporters at Doddaballapur near Bengaluru, he said, "Some may be making political statements about it (caste census), but we will understand the facts and do justice for all."

Meanwhile, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said he is not aware about what is in the report and hence he wouldn't like to comment on it.

"I don't know, because I have no information about what will be discussed in the cabinet or what is there in the report. If I get the report I can say something. Or if there is any clear decision from the April 17 cabinet meeting, I can react to it," he told reporters in Bengaluru.