Bengaluru: BJP in Karnataka on Saturday attacked Congress government over its decision on internal reservation for scheduled castes, alleging injustice to some communities and questioning the purpose of the revised quota formula.
Karnataka BJP President BY Vijayendra and BJP MP Govind Karjol slammed the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led government, accusing it of delay, quota dilution and lack of commitment to social justice.
The Cabinet on Friday cleared a revised internal reservation formula for Scheduled Castes within the general quota of 15 percent, paving the way for the government’s long-awaited recruitment.
Chief Minister for Scheduled Castes of Karnataka State @siddaramaiah The Congress-led government has committed historic frauds and backstabbing. It took almost two and a half years to allocate reservations for Scheduled Castes as per the order of the Supreme Court and finally in the cabinet meeting A,…
— Vijayendra Yediyurappa (@BYVijayendra) April 25, 2026
The cabinet approved 5.25 per cent reservation each for “right wing groups” and “left wing groups” and about 4.5 per cent for other scheduled castes, including nomadic communities.
“The Congress government in Karnataka, led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has committed a historic betrayal and backstabbed the scheduled castes,” Vijayendra said.
In a post on ‘X’, the Shikaripura MLA alleged that the government had delayed the distribution of reservation among Scheduled Castes for nearly two-and-a-half years despite a Supreme Court order, before classifying them into A, B and C categories in a cabinet decision.
He said the previous BJP government had increased the reserves from 15 percent to 17 percent, but the current dispensation had reduced the allocations.
“The quota for the ‘A’ category has been reduced from 6 percent to 5.25 percent and for the ‘B’ category from 5.5 percent to 5.25 percent, thus causing grave injustice,” he said, adding that the allocations meant for some communities had been merged into the “C” category and reduced to 4 percent.
“Instead of the justifiable 5.5 percent, the quota has been reduced to 4.5 percent – being a betrayal to these communities as well,” he said.
He further alleged that despite having no stay order, the state government had submitted an affidavit agreeing to reduce the reservation from 17 per cent to 15 per cent.
“As a result, Scheduled Caste reservation has been reduced from 17 percent to 15 percent,” he said.
Alleging inaction on recruitment, Vijayendra said the government had wasted two-and-a-half years of valuable time in the name of internal reservation, despite thousands of vacancies, and termed the recent recruitment assurance as fraudulent.
He added that Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar will pay a price for the alleged injustice.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference at the state BJP office, Karjol questioned the internal reservation mechanism approved by the cabinet.
The former deputy chief minister said the justice HN Nagamohan Das committee had recommended 17 per cent internal reserve and the government had reduced it to 15 per cent.
He questioned whether repeated claims about social justice and equal distribution were mere rhetoric and accused the prime minister of deceiving the public to retain power.
Terming the verdict “arbitrary justice”, Karjol said, “There was the report of Sadashivayya, the report of Justice HN Nagamohan Das, even the report of the cabinet sub-committee under former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. There was also a Supreme Court order. Ignoring all these, the government has given arbitrary justice.”
He claimed that the previous BJP government had scientifically increased the reservation to 17 per cent based on a report by then law minister JC Madhuswamy and alleged that despite promises made in 2013 and after returning to power in 2023, Siddaramaiah had failed to implement internal reservation.
Accusing the prime minister of trying to create rifts among the KS sub-castes and take the case to the courts, Karjol asked him to stop this fraud.
