The Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka launched a scathing attack on the Congress government this Saturday, accusing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of “stabbing the Scheduled Castes in the back” following the Cabinet’s decision on internal reservation. State BJP president BY Vijayendra and MP Govind Karjol led the charge, claiming the new quota formula is a diluted version of previous promises that ultimately does more harm than good to the affected communities.
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The controversy stems from a Cabinet decision on Friday which cleared a revised internal reservation structure within a 15 per cent overall quota. Under this plan, “right-hand” and “left-hand” groups have each been allocated 5.25 per cent, while other Scheduled Castes, including various nomadic tribes, have been grouped together with a 4.5 per cent share. Vijayendra was quick to point out that the previous BJP administration had actually increased the total reservation from 15 per cent to 17 per centโ a figure he claims the current government has now slashed.
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Taking to social media, the Shikaripura MLA argued that the Congress had sat on the issue for nearly two-and-a-half years despite a clear mandate from the Supreme Court. He noted that the quota for Category โAโ has effectively dropped from 6 per cent to 5.25 per cent, while Category โBโ has seen a similar reduction. He further alleged that the government voluntarily filed an affidavit to bring the total reservation back down to 15 per cent, which he described as a historic betrayal of the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
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Echoing these sentiments at a press conference, former Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol dismissed the move as “arbitrary justice.” He questioned why the government had ignored the scientific recommendations of the Justice HN Nagamohan Das committee โ which suggested a 17 per cent reservation โ in favour of a plan that he believes will only lead to further legal battles and communal division.
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Karjol accused the Chief Minister of using social justice as mere rhetoric to cling to power while misleading the public about the true nature of the quota. With hundreds of thousands of government posts reportedly sitting vacant, the BJP leaders argued that the delay in implementing a fair reservation policy has cost young jobseekers years of opportunity, warning that the Congress leadership, from Rahul Gandhi to DK Shivakumar, would eventually face the political consequences of this decision.
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