Overview

• The Congress high command summoned CM Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar to Delhi and instructed them to conduct a fresh caste enumeration.
• Dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga lobbies had rejected the decade-old 2015 report as unscientific, prompting its withdrawal from implementation.
• The Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha welcomed the move but questioned the need for a state survey given the national census plans, while the Karnataka State Backward Classes Federation criticized sidelining the old data.
• Officials plan to use existing records from the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission to expedite the new survey and aim to finish it within the next three months.
• BJP state president B.Y. Vijayendra accused the government of deploying the caste census to divert attention from public backlash over the Bengaluru stampede tragedy.