Congress headship's twin Karnataka test: Caste census report, Siddaramaiah case

The Congress leadership is facing a twin challenge in Karnataka - in getting the Siddaramaiah government to come out of its 15-month "slumber" to act on Rahul Gandhi's pet theme of caste census, and the consequences of the sanction granted by the governor to prosecute the CM over an allotment of land to his wife.

A day after Gandhi once again advocated caste census at Samvidhan Samman Sammelan in Prayagraj by asserting that "caste census is my life's mission" and that "I am ready to pay a political price for it", there is unease in the party circles as many feel the Siddaramaiah government's inaction in releasing the findings of the state's caste census and socio economic survey could pose questions on the credibility of Gandhi's pitch. It is now more than 10 months since the October 9 CWC meeting, which adopted caste census as the party's official plank and where Siddaramaiah promised an early release of findings of the state backward castes commission. "There is a limit to which the Karnataka government can stonewall the findings when we are putting pressure on the Modi government to conduct a caste census. Siddaramaiahji is still waiting, even 15 months into his second government's tenure, for the state backward castes commission chairman to formally handover the findings of caste census which was commissioned by Siddaramaiahji in 2014-15 in his first term," said a Congress member full of enthusiasm for Gandhi's pitch. But the person chose to be evasive when asked what prevented Gandhi from directing the CM to get the findings released. While many feel a mere nod from the CM would make the commission chairman release the report, they say the devil in the details may be causing the delay.

As per Congress sources, divisions within the Karnataka Cabinet and state Congress over the panel's reported findings, concerns about the price the party government may have to pay for it and the fears about backlash from prominent communities have so far held back the release of the report.


"If sanctioning of caste census during the previous government was part of Siddaramaiahji's oneupmanship, now the findings, contents of which are informally known to key ministers and leaders, is proving to be a case of riding the tiger," said a Karnataka leader. With the CM under pressure over the land allotment case, there is curiosity in political circles how or whether he will use the caste census findings as another tool vis-a-vis his colleagues and competitors within and outside.