Former Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H..D. Kumaraswamy on Saturday said the move to increase reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the BJP government or the Bharat Jodo Yatra spearheaded by the Congress party will have no impact on the coming elections to the Legislative Assembly.
Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, he acknowledged the questions that had been raised by political analysts on the ‘hurried’ decision by the gvernment, when the Assembly elections were barely six months away, to increase the quantum of reservation to Dalits on the basis of a report submitted by Justice (retd) Nagmohan Das Committee two years ago and the credit taken by leaders of political parties for the decision.
However, he said he was of the opinion that political parties will not be able to lure sections of the society towards them by such decisions. For instance, when late Chandrashekar was the country’s Prime Minister, he asked JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda to become a Minister in his Cabinet. But, Mr. Gowda told the then Prime Minister that he instead preferred the inclusion of Nayaka community, which was a poor and downtrodden community, in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST). “It was because of Mr. Gowda’s contribution that 14 members of Nayaka community have become MLAs and two members become MPs. But, will they remember Mr. Gowda? So, we can temporarily feel happy and claim credit in speeches”, he said.
He went on to add that several political leaders, in recent times, were encouraging communities to seek reservation and warned political leaders that it will ‘boomerang’ upon them as it tantamounts to “throwing a stone at a beehive”. Decisions in the regard should always be ‘farsighted/ and not taken in a hurry, he said.
After dismissing Bharat Jodo Yatra as an exercise which will not have any bearing on the coming Assembly elections, Mr. Kumaraswamy also said that the rebel JD(S) MLA S.R. Srinivas, who participated in the yatra in Tumakuru on Saturday, was not with the party since a long time. “It has been about two years now since he left us”, Mr. Kumaraswamy remarked.
With regard to the Mysuru-Bengaluru highway, Mr Kumaraswamy said there were several lacunae in the expressway and he had written a letter in the regard to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.
