Siddaramaiah accepts controversial caste census report ahead of LS polls (Ld)

Bengaluru, Feb 29 (IANS) In a major development, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday accepted the controversial Socio-Economic and Educational Survey Report, also known as the caste census report. The Congress-led government’s move is likely to trigger a controversy in the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Chairman of Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, K. Jayaprakash Hegde, submitted the report to CM Siddaramaiah at his office in Vidhana Soudha on Thursday in the presence of Minister for Kannada and Culture, Shivaraj Tangadagi. Siddaramaiah said the caste census report will now be placed before the Cabinet for discussions. He, however, refused to divulge any further information on the report. Speaking to the media after the submission of the report, Jayaprakash Hegde said that the report has been accepted, and it will be placed before the next cabinet meeting. “We can’t divulge the details, our responsibility was to prepare the report and submit it,” he said. “The report was prepared by the 1.60 lakh government officers led by the Deputy Commissioners in 2014-15. The report is prepared based on the data collected during the tenure of former Chairman of the Commission H. Kantharaju. For technical reasons, he could not submit the report. This is a socio-economic survey. I won’t talk about