In poll-bound Karnataka, Vokkaliga leaders set Jan 23 deadline for Bommai govt to hike quota for community

Top religious and political figures from the Vokkaliga community led by Swami Nirmalananda of the influential Adichunchanagiri Mutt on Sunday set a January 23 deadline for Karnataka’s BJP regime to take a call on increasing the quota for members of the community.

Vokkaligas are estimated to be the second largest community in the state, after Lingayats, and the leaders claim they make up about a fifth of the state’s population but opportunities in the educational institutions and government jobs are not commensurate with their population.

Karnataka is headed to assembly polls in about five months, and the ruling BJP is facing heat from the aggressive Congress led by DK Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga lawmaker from the Old Mysuru region.


The leaders said they will decide on the next course of action if the Bommai-led government fails to take a decision on the subject before the deadline.

The demand from Vokkaligas and others including Kurubas and Panchamasalis, follows the government notifying an increase in the quota for SCs by 2% to 17% and for STs by 4% to 7%, last month, by way of an ordinance.

The Vokkaliga leaders met under the aegis of the State Vokkaligara Sangha. Those who took part in the meeting Shivakumar, former union minister DV Sadananda Gowda, BJP ministers R Ashoka, K Sudhakar and K Gopalaiah and Sira Spatikapuri mutt seer Sri Nanjavadhoota.

Gowda, who represents Bengaluru North in the Lok Sabha and the other BJP ministers pledged to pursue the demand in the government and join the movement. One of them said they are nine members in the cabinet and they would exert pressure on their party.

Last month, Swami Nirmalananda kicked off the debate by publicly demanding an increase in the quota for Vokkaligas by 8%, insisting that the existing percentage was not in sync with the community's population in the state. The community made up about 16% of Karnataka's population, but they were getting a measly 4% quota, he said.

The population of Vokkaligas, he argued, would further go up to 30% if the State's Reddys and Bunts, and Andhra's Reddys were also considered as part of the community, seeking a quick decision on the demand in the interest of ensuring justice to the community's youth.

In Bengaluru, he had said, the population would go up from 1.5 crore at present to about 4.5 crore by 2050, and the future generation of Vokkaliga youth would suffer if the reservation percentage was not increased.

The swami had acknowledged that the apex court has capped reservations at 50% of opportunities available in educational institutions and jobs, but the changed conditions presented a compelling case for an increase in the quota for the community. The Swami said he was even prepared to lead an agitation to press for this demand.

On the demand from Vokkaligas, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said in the past that his government will take a call within the framework of law and court judgments.

Many communities, the CM said, had been aspiring for a higher reservation and there was nothing wrong about it. The government, he said, will study these demands in the backdrop of laws, court judgments and other relevant reports of the Permanent Backward Classes Commission, and take further steps as guided by them.