Panchamasali committee rejects government’s offer of reservation under 2D category

We will continue our agitation if government does not relent, says BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal

January 05, 2023 08:15 pm | Updated 08:15 pm IST - Belagavi

The Panchamasali Reservation Agitation Committee has rejected the State government’s offer to include the community in the new 2D category of reservation.

“We stick to our demand for inclusion in 2A category. We will continue our agitation,’‘ BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal told journalists in Belagavi after the State-level executive committee meeting on Thursday.

He blamed Industries Minster Murugesh Nirani for the delay in the State government announcing the reclassification of reservation for the community. “I have credible information that Mr. Nirani took BJP national president J.P. Nadda to the Harihar Panchamasali Peetha and told him that there is no need to expedite the issue. And, that is why the State government has put off the decision. It has also changed its course of thinking.“

He also accused Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of creating two new categories in category 2 for OBC communities. “We condemn this. We do not accept the offer of including us in 2D. We need 2A category reservation and we will not accept any other reclassification,’‘ Mr. Yatnal said.

“I used to tell this to Mr. Bommai in private. From today, I will say it in the open. I am a disciplined worker of the BJP and want the party to win 150 seats in the next elections. But if the Bommai government does not announce 2A category reservation for the Panchamasalis, it will suffer serious electoral set-backs,” he said.

The BJP leaders should introspect about what happened in the Maski Assembly election and Belagavi City Corporation Council elections. It should also be wary of some senior leaders who are working against the BJP by secretly joining hands with the Congress or other parties, Mr. Yatnal said.

He described the Harihara Panchamasali Peetha as a “payment seat” math. “It was established by a Minister to further his personal political purposes and not for public interest. It has no future. Nor does the Minister have any future,’‘ he said.

“Mr. Bommai has lied to me and betrayed my trust. He said that he will swear on his mother about providing us 2A reservation and asked me to stop the agitation. I believed him. But now I feel betrayed. He will face the consequences of such betrayal,” he said.

“I am setting a deadline of 24 hours. If Mr. Bommai does not fulfil our demand, we will start an agitation from Shiggaon, the Chief Minister’s constituency,’‘ he said. The agitation will be so strong that it will decide the political future of Mr. Bommai, Mr. Yatnal said.

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