On Friday, the Cabinet meeting decided to divide the four per cent reservation equally between the Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, with two per cent each for jobs and admissions in educational institutions. This decision was welcomed by the two politically influential communities. Meanwhile, the Congress party criticized the BJP-led Karnataka government for eliminating the reservation for Muslims under Category 2B in the OBC list, and vowed to restore the quota for the minority community if they come to power in the upcoming state Assembly elections due by May.
During the Cabinet meeting, the government moved Muslims into the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) pool, which the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), D K Shivakumar, deemed as ‘unconstitutional’. He accused the government of treating reservation as if it were property, and emphasized that it is a right of minorities. Shivakumar told reporters that the Congress party does not want the four per cent reserved for Muslims to be scrapped and given to any of the major communities, as the minority community is their ‘brothers and family members’. He claimed that the entire Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities are rejecting the offer.
Shivakumar expressed confidence that the Congress party would come to power in the ‘next 45 days’ and pledged to scrap the government’s decision to eliminate the Muslim quota. He accused the Bommai government of trying to create ’emotional issues’ to win the upcoming polls. As the party president, Shivakumar stated that the first Cabinet meeting, in the event of Congress coming to power, would take a decision to restore the quota, and asserted that there is no basis to remove Muslims from the OBC list.
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