SC, ST quota should be proportional to their population: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi returned to Karnatakas Kolar since his controversial 2019 speech which ultimately led to his disqualification as an MP last month and slammed the BJPled Centre for not providing due represenatation to the OBCs in government jobsPointing to the indifference being meted out to the OBCs which are present in larger number but their representation in government jobs were less he said Reservation for SCSTs should be proportional to their population The Union government should lift 50 per cent cap in reservation he addedIn a reply to BJPs allegations that he insulted the OBC community with Modi surname remark the Congress leader said that the representation of OBC and Dalits in the central government is not in line with their populationThere are only 7 per cent of people in the governments secretaries coming from OBC Dalit and Adivasi communities Gandhi saidThe Congress leader also demanded that the Union government release the caste census report commissioned by his partyled United Progressive Alliance UPA government in 2011Only seven per cent of secretaries in central government offices are from OBC and SCST communities Modiji you talk about the welfare of OBCs Let us know what their share is in the population If you dont do this it is an insult to OBC communities he saidIt is pertinent to mention that Rahul Gandhi was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday in a 2019 criminal defamation case over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modis surname by a court in Gujarats Surat However he was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to let him appeal the decisionThe case was filed against Gandhi by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for saying How come all thieves have the common surname ModiRahul Gandhi launched a series of attacks against the Centre on Sunday and annouced a slew of poll promises of Congress in the StateIf the Congress party is voted to power in Karnataka then we will provide 200 units of free electricity to every family Rs 2000 every month to women a total of 10 Kg rice per month to every family Rs 3000 to every graduate till two years and Rs 1500 monthly to diploma holders Rahul Gandhi saidIf you PM Modi can give thousands of crores of rupees to Adani then we can give the money to poor women and youths You helped Adani wholeheartedly and we will wholeheartedly help the people of the state he said Aap Apna Kaam Karo Hum Apna Kaam Karenge You do your work and we will do ours he said while urging people to vote for CongressAlso Read Adani is a symbol of corruption says Rahul Gandhi targeting PMHe further sharpened his attacks on the ruling BJP in the State and alleged that the party took 40 per cent commissionAlleging that the BJP government in Karnataka is immersed in corruption he said When I tabled these issues and the Adani matter in the Parliament and questioned PM Modi my mic was switched offLater I asked who owns the Rs 20000 crore in Adani shell companies It is benami Who owns it he said adding that in response to that for the first time in history the government did not allow the Parliament to functionHe said until he gets an answer to his questions he will not stop askingDisqualify me put me in jail do anything doesnt matter Gandhi addedThe former MP from Wayanad was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by Surat court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma on March 23 in a defamation case over his Modi surname remark in 2019 in Kolar wherein he in a dig at PM Modi said How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surnameFollowing his conviction Rahul was disqualified as an MP on March 24 as per a Supreme Court ruling in 2013 Under the ruling any MP or MLA stands to be disqualified automatically if convicted and sentenced to 2 years or moreKarnataka is slated to go to Assembly polls on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13With less than a month to go for Karnataka Assembly polls the Congress on Saturday released its third list of 43 candidatesFormer chief minister Siddaramaiah was not named from the Kolar constituency with the grand old party instead fielding Kothur G ManjunathThe Congress declared 124 candidates in its first list and another 42 in the second list for the State Assembly electionsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever