Rift in K’taka cabinet on caste survey report

The Karnataka cabinet failed to reach a consensus on the controversial caste survey report during a stormy three-hour meeting on Thursday, with ministers from the powerful Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities raising strong objections to the findings that showed their populations lower than traditionally believed.

Law minister HK Patil announced that a second special cabinet meeting would be held on May 2, as ministers need “more information and technical details for a complete and informed discussion” on the socio-economic survey report that has sparked political tensions across the state.

“Today, the state cabinet discussed the report based on the 2015 data submitted by the Backward Classes Commission. We had an elaborate and detailed discussion,” Patil told reporters after the meeting.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah, who had initially called the survey “95% perfect”, has now asked all ministers to submit their opinions in writing or verbally before the next cabinet meeting, according to minister Ramalinga Reddy.

Before the discussions, Siddaramaiah separately met with Vokkaliga and Lingayat ministers to gauge their viewpoints on the contentious issue.

The survey report, which covered 59.8 million of Karnataka’s 63 million population, has particularly angered the politically dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities after it found they constitute 11% and 10.3% of the population respectively—significantly lower than long-held estimates of 17% and 14%.

It has also emerged as a significant fault line within the Congress itself, pitting ministers from the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities against those from Dalit, OBC, and minority backgrounds, threatening the party’s carefully cultivated social coalition that helped it win power in 2023.

Speaking to HT, Reddy said he would give in writing that his community, Reddy Vokkaliga, has been under represented in the report. “There is scope for rectification like the revision that is done for the voters’ list regarding additions and deletions,” he added.

The report shows Kurubas—CM Siddaramaiah’s community—comprising 7.5% of the population. The commission has recommended increasing reservations for Lingayats from 4% to 8% and for Vokkaligas from 3% to 7%, with overall reservation proposed to increase from the current 49% to 75%.

According to a minister familiar with the discussions, several cabinet members highlighted shortcomings in the population estimates of Lingayats and Vokkaligas. “There was also a view that the report findings are a decade old and any changes in reservation should be based on present demographic ground realities,” the minister said, asking not to be named.

Ministers also discussed potential political fallout if the findings were implemented, with many fearing it could alienate Lingayat and Vokkaliga voters—two influential communities that the opposition BJP and JD(S) are actively courting.

Some ministers suggested constituting a cabinet sub-committee to further examine the report, while others pushed to reject it entirely and conduct a fresh survey. “Many ministers spoke and had contradictory views. There was no consensus,” said another senior cabinet minister, who asked not to be named.

Horticulture minister SS Mallikarjuna, whose father—senior Congress MLA and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president Shamanur Shivashankarappa—has already opposed the report, said discussions didn’t even venture into sub-castes. Shivashankarappa had previously warned that the government “cannot survive by suppressing” the Lingayat community.

Minister N Chaluvarayaswamy clarified: “There is no question of rejecting or accepting it yet. It’s all about discussing the survey in the next cabinet meeting.”

Opposition leader R Ashoka criticised the inconclusive meeting, writing on X: “Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s drama on the caste census which began 10 years ago is still continuing as a mega serial.” He questioned whether the request for written responses from ministers indicated “a lack of mutual trust in the cabinet” or was “an attempt to blackmail the ministers.”

The survey, Karnataka’s first caste-based enumeration since 1931, measured 54 parameters of socio-economic and educational backwardness across 1,351 castes and sub-castes. According to leaked reports, it classified Lingayats into 91 sub-castes, Vokkaligas into 49, Muslims into 100, and Christians into 58 sub-castes.

The Lingayats and Vokkaligas have called the survey “unscientific” and demanded its rejection. Even within the ruling Congress, numerous voices oppose its findings.

However, organisations representing Dalits and Other Backward Classes support making the report public and implementing its recommendations, noting the government spent approximately ₹160 crore on the exercise.

Minister Patil attempted to downplay tensions, claiming the meeting was “held in a cordial atmosphere” and dismissing speculation of heated debates. He acknowledged that “misconceptions” about population figures were being spread but maintained that the survey covered 94.17% of the state’s population.