Caste census: Karnataka BJP chief Vijayendra likens CM Siddaramaiah to snake charmer

“In rural areas, during fairs, there’ll be snake charmers with their basket and pungi. They will be blowing on the pungi threatening that they would release the snake,” he said. The CM, according to Vijayendra, was doing a similar thing with the caste census.

“I am not sure whether he is interested in the census. If he had any concern he would have implemented it in his previous term. He is using it like a snake charmer to create fear,” Vijayendra alleged.

On Tuesday, Siddaramaiah said that the census carried out was scientific and “will certainly be implemented” by the Congress government. CM Siddaramaiah made this promise to representatives of Other Backward Caste communities during a pre-budget meeting.

However, the CM has faced opposition from his Cabinet colleagues belonging to the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities regarding the implementation of the caste census. Since Lok Sabha elections last year, the chief minister has claimed multiple times that the report would be discussed by the state Cabinet, but the subject has been deferred multiple times.

The survey was commissioned by Siddaramaiah in 2015, during his first tenure as the chief minister.