Rahul Gandhi's Revanth Reddy praise may have led to Siddaramaiah's caste survey move

Why did Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah decide to go public with the caste survey a decade after it was conducted? This question has been the source of much speculation not just in the state where most politicians, including from his own party, the Congress, are perturbed by the findings, but also in national political circles. Congress insiders say the chief minister’s sudden decision to release the report may have something to do with Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s 11 glowing references to Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy in his 40 minute speech at a recent meeting.

The speech had no reference to Siddaramaiah, they added.

Other than publicly praising the Telangana CM and his work in publishing the caste survey, Gandhi also made a point of focussing on Reddy’s work during the closed-door meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), comprising the party’s top decision makers, on April 8. Gandhi, according to the people cited above, said in the meeting in Ahmedabad that social justice was the way to go, and that to achieve this, a caste census had to be on any government’s agenda, and Telangana was showing the way.

“He came back from Ahmedabad (where the CWC was held) and immediately took this decision,’’ admitted an official in Siddaramaiah’s office who asked not to be named. A spokesperson for the CM declined comment when asked why Siddaramaiah moved on a sealed report that has been gathering dust for the last 10 years. As HT reported over the weekend, the survey reveals that scheduled castes comprise more than 18% of Karnataka’s population and Muslims nearly 13%, even as the dominant Vokkaligas and Lingayats make up less than 25%. The survey also recommends increasing reservations for Muslims from 4% to 8% and for people from other backward classes (OBCs) from 32% to 51%. The survey downgrades the 6.63 million (11.09% of population) Lingayats and 6.16 million (10.31%) Vokkaligas. According to the report, reservations for categories 3A and 3B, to which the two politically powerful groups belong, will be 8% and 7% respectively. The commission conducted the survey between April 11 and May 30, 2015, by covering 59,813,165 (99.88%) people.

HT learns that Siddaramaiah also left Gujarat early, citing urgent work in Bengaluru. The chief minister and Rahul Gandhi are known to have an otherwise great relationship, with Gandhi respecting the senior politician’s political acumen. On Wednesday, however, Gandhi couldn’t stop referring to Siddaramaiah’s counterpart across the border, Revanth Reddy.

“The caste census has given a brand new tool to us to push the development agenda in the state,” Gandhi said, according to the people. Praising the chief minister for increasing Other Backward Classes reservation in the state to 42% as part of the proposed new bills, Gandhi, the people added, said: “What we have started in Telangana, we are going to implement in Delhi and the rest of the country too.”

Arriving in Bangalore, Siddaramaiah had just about a day to take the decision. He risked upsetting powerful communities such as the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats. And he also risked anatagonising his own colleagues. But, the clear direction from Rahul Gandhi and the continuing power struggle in the state, where there has been a constant buzz that the chief minister and his deputy would swap places after two-and-a-half years (the mark is nearing) may have forced his hand.

“Rahul Gandhi never said anything negative about Karnataka, but maybe the omission itself was enough,’’ said a central Congress leader who asked not to be named.