R. Ashok | Photo credit: file photo
The BJP accused the Congress government of “cheating” the Scheduled Tribe community by reducing their reservation quota and decided to launch a public campaign against it in this regard.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly R. Ashok said this at a press conference on Wednesday that the BJP is holding consultations with the affected communities as part of efforts to build a statewide campaign with their involvement.
He pointed out that an earlier Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP outing increased reservation for SCs from 15% to 17% and STs from 3% to 7% based on their population. This was done to provide adequate level of reservation to these downtrodden communities to ensure social justice, he said.
But the Congress government had “hatched a conspiracy” against these communities and reduced the reservation level for STs to the earlier level of 3%, he said, describing it as a betrayal of the downtrodden communities.
Referring to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s claim of being pro-Dalit, he wondered if the reduction in reservation for Dalits was a pro-Dalit measure.
He expressed concern that the Scheduled Tribes communities would have to struggle for many more years to increase their reservation amount again and urged the government to immediately restore their reservation to the earlier 7%.
Bidadi Township
Opposing the government’s move to build a township in Bidadi by acquiring about 9,600 acres of land there, Mr. Ashok alleged that the township project was taken up only for “exploitation” by using 3,000 acres of government land for real estate purposes.
Pointing out that the land proposed to be acquired for the township project is fertile, he demanded that the interests of farmers should not be sacrificed to the real estate ambitions of powerful people.
Claiming that seven thousand flats in Bengaluru are already lying vacant, he questioned the need to acquire such large tracts of land to build the township.
Published – 13 May 2026 21:17 IST
