Mysuru: Former Deputy Chief Minister and MLA G. Parameshwara said that a Dalit can become only in Congress. He commented on the issue while giving information about the SC/ST Unity Conference to be held in Chitradurga next month.
Addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday December 14 , he said that there are 24 per cent of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Classes in Karnataka. Among them there are 101 Scheduled Castes and 52 Scheduled Tribes. A unity meeting will be held at Chitradurga on January 8, where all of them will be brought together, he said. He asserted that the National and State leaders will participate in this convention.
He said that the discussion of the next Chief Minister’s position is irrelevant for now. The convention does not demand to give the post of CM to Dalit but Congress party should come to power first, he said and added that it is the tradition of the Congress to choose the leader together in the Legislative Assembly after getting the majority. Replying to a query from mediapersons that why Dalit should not be the CM, he stressed that first the party has to come to power. Only Congress can make Dalit the CM. It cannot be done by any other party. We have no faction. There is only one faction, that is the Congress faction, he said and joked that it was the media that created the factions.
He said that BJP is misleading the people in increasing SC/ST reservation. They are doing this to gain political advantage. This reservation will not come into force unless constitutional action is first taken and inserted in Schedule 9, said Parameshwara and added that the double engine Government should do that work and then talk about the increase in reservation.
