Sorry ladies, no 50% but only 33% quota in PR bodies in Karnataka
From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Mar 20: Sorry, Ladies. You will have to be content with 33% reservation in the Panchayat Raj bodies in Karnataka instead of the 50% promised by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in his budget proposals for the year 2010-11 presented in the state legislature on March 5.

The chief minister, who is also holding the finance portfolio, had promised to bring suitable amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act to provide for 50% reservation to women in the panchayat raj bodies in his budget. But, he has now changed his tune contending that the proposal to increase the reservation for women to 50% could not be implemented on the ground that elections to the Grama Panchayats, which form the lowest rung of the local self government bodies, were due to be held shortly.

"We will have no alternative but to continue the existing scheme of 33% reservation for women,” he said explaining that the process of getting the amendment bill passed in both houses of state legislature and securing governor’s assent as well as completing fresh reservation lists was time-consuming.

Yeddyurappa, who spoke to reporters at his residence, made it clear that the government had not dropped the move to increase the reservation to women in panchayat raj bodies to 50% from the present 33% with the State Election Commission, which will be the authority to conduct the polls. ``However, it would not be possible to conduct elections to grama panchayats by April or May with 50% reservation to women under the present circumstances,’’ he clarified.

The chief minister pointed out that the State Election Commission was likely to announce the schedule for holding elections to grama panchayats by the end of this month or early next month soon after completion of the BBMP elections on March 28. The grama panchayat elections are likely to be completed by April or May as per indications available to the government and therefore it would be impossible go ahead with the proposal to increase the quota for women to 50% in the forthcoming round of grama panchayat polls, he said.

Yeddyurappa, however, declined to spell out when the BJP government would go ahead with bringing amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act for raising the reservation for women to 50%.

Incidentally, he clarified that he slipped from the bicycle on Friday during the protest organized by the ruling BJP against the Congress-led UPA regime’s failure to check rising prices from Gandhi statue in the city to Raj Bhavan as the bicycle arranged for him ``lacked clutch and break.’’

"Naturally, I lost balance and slipped. I did not fall off the bicycle. It does not mean that I don’t know cycling,” he said and pointed out that the mediamen who came to cover BJP’s novel protest wanted something to report and the cameramen needed some pictures. ``The loss of balance and my tripping came handy for you guys,” he smilingly told the media.

"Well, sometimes such things do happen. It is part of life,” he added.

It may be recalled that State BJP President K S Eshwarappa, state ministers Ramachandra Gowda, Aravind Limbavali, Visweshwara Hegde Kageri, G Janardhana Reddy and several BJP legislators and party leaders had participated in the protest rally from Gandhi statue till Raj Bhavan. However, the chief minister stayed off when a delegation of BJP leaders called on governor H R Bhardwaj at Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum under the leadership of Eshwarappa.

Yeddyurappa claimed that the ruling BJP was confident of winning at least 120 out of the 198 seats in the BBMP and will be able to have its own Mayor.

The chief minister, who visited Chitradurga in the morning to participate in the Maadara Channayya Guru Peetha State-level convention and programmes along with Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar while speaking to reporters in Chitradurga after the function, said the promised debate on Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) Ltd’s Bangalore-Mysore infrastructure corridor project could not take place in the state assembly as the opposition parties did not cooperate with the government.

"We have nothing to hide nor to be ashamed of as far BMIC project is concerned. I am committed to the promise given to JD(S) national president H D Deve Gowda that the government will not give even an inch of additional land than what is mentioned the approved framework agreement. Any excess land that may have been acquired by the KIADB will be returned to the farmers,” he said.

The chief minister also declared that the government had no plans to create any more new universities in the state as the first and foremost priority was to provide sufficient funds to all the existing and newly created, including some of the new ones promised in the budget, to create the necessary infrastructure and ensure that they function well.

The Lok Sabha Speaker, who arrived in the city in the morning, called on governor H R Bhardwaj along with Union minister K H Muniyappa at Raj Bhavan before going to Chitradurga.