Siddaramaiah bats for Karnataka’s caste census report, says his govt will publish data

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said he has urged the State Commission for Backward Classes chairperson K Jayaprakash to submit the caste census report and asserted that once that is done, his government will definitely publish the data. Asked about the matter at a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, party leader Rahul Gandhi said, “We are in discussion. We are very clear what our direction is, those actions will be taken.” Sitting next to Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said under the previous government of the party in the southern state in 2014-15, the Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission was entrusted with conducting the caste census. “By the time our term was over, the report was not ready. Then, a coalition government was there in Karnataka after 2018. The caste census report was ready, but the coalition government’s chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, did not receive it. Now, the report is lying with the permanent backward class commission,” he said. “I have requested the present chairman, Jayaprakash Hegde, to submit the report to the government. If he submits the report, we will definitely issue the report,” Siddaramaiah added. Jayaprakash had last week said he would submit the caste census report to the state government in November. “When the Kantharaj-headed commission gave the report, the then chief minister Kumaraswamy did not take it. Now, there is a different chairman for the commission. I have asked him to submit the report filed by Kantharaj as it is. He has said the report will be given in November, let us see,” Siddaramaiah told reporters last week.