Union Minister for Food and Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi slammed the Congress-led Karnataka government on Friday, saying it’s pushing a caste survey to distract from its messy admin blunders and the growing feud between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar.
Joshi shared these sharp words with reporters in Bidar, calling the whole Karnataka caste survey push a “drama” designed to win favor with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. “They’re hiding the state’s real headaches under this cover,” he said. He pointed out that development has stalled everywhere—no projects moving forward—and the government can’t even scrape together cash to fix potholes. Yet, it’s pouring money into this survey.
The central government delayed the national census in 2021 because of COVID-19 and other issues, Joshi noted, and it’s gearing up to restart soon. But he accused the Karnataka Congress team of rushing ahead with the caste survey as a smokescreen for their power tussle, especially the tension between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
Joshi didn’t hold back on the party’s internal drama either. “Congress’s so-called September revolution is fizzling out,” he claimed. “To shift focus, they’re pulling stunts like this survey. Even D.K. Shivakumar and other ministers inside Congress are against this unscientific move.”
He took a deeper dig at Congress’s history on caste issues. “How many castes has the party really lifted up?” Joshi asked. He charged that from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi, Congress leaders fought against welfare for SCs, STs, and OBCs—even blocking reservations in Parliament. “Now Siddaramaiah is just acting the part.”
On religion-based reservations, Joshi warned that the system targets social backwardness from untouchability, economic gaps, and similar woes. “But this Congress government wants to twist that policy,” he said. The Supreme Court has already nixed religion-based quotas, yet the state seems headed that way. Doing so, he argued, wrongly implies Muslims and Christians suffer untouchability too—something that’s not just wrong but against the Constitution and law.
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