Bill to replace SC/ST quota ordinance to be introduced in K'taka legislature session

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the Bill to replace the SC/ST reservation ordinance is one among a set of draft laws to be introduced in the legislature session at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi.

During the session that begins on Monday, the issues related to northern Karnataka will also be discussed, Bommai said talking to reporters here.

The state government earlier brought in the ordinance hiking the reservation for Scheduled Castes from 15 per cent to 17 per cent, and for Scheduled Tribes from three per cent to seven per cent.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot gave his assent to the ordinance. Now, the state government wants to introduce the Bill to give more legitimacy to its decision.

Regarding Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah's statement on the Mangaluru cooker blast, Bommai said the opposition leader should study what the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D K Shivakumar said.

"They (Congress leaders) have been saying very clearly that the pressure cooker blast was just an accident. I want to tell Siddaramaiah that let him read the entire text of KPCC president D K Shivakumar's statement and then react in a way that will honour his dignity," Bommai said.

Reacting to the agitation by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in Belagavi on the border dispute, the Chief Minister said the organisation had been indulging in such things for the past 50 years. The state government knows how to control the group and the same is being done to keep MES under check, he said.

The MES is a pressure group fighting for the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra by reasoning that the district has a large Marathi-speaking population.