Bengaluru
Newly appointed BJP opposition leader in the Assembly R Ashok on Thursday said there were genuine doubts about the authenticity of the Kantharaju panel’s report and alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was in a hurry to implement the report to please party bosses.
Addressing media persons after taking charge of his office in Vidhana Soudha, he demanded a thorough inquiry into the theft of the original report of the Kantharaju panel on the caste census.
There are serious doubts about the authenticity of the report, which does not even have the signature of the designated Secretary, he said and pointed out that several communities have opposed the report blaming it as most unscientific.
Ashok said the Siddaramaiah cabinet was divided over the report and questioned the hurry in accepting what he termed as the controversial report.
If the allegation that the original copy of the report is itself stolen, Ashok asked the government why it has not conducted an investigation into the theft as the government has spent crores of rupees on the Kantharaju panel.
In the absence of the original copy of the report, how is it justified to prepare a revised report based on the data collected, he asked.
The BJP leader said there is a vast difference in the population figures of 10 years ago and the present figures. There are allegations that the Kantharaju commission had not conducted a door-to-door survey, The chief minister’s hurry to implement the report leads to suspicion, he said.
