We are seeking 2D and not 2A reservation, says Yatnal

BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal is a leader of the Panchamasali Reservation Agitation Committee.
| Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

“We are not after reservation benefits under Backward Classes 2A category. We want 2D category that was specially created for us by the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai,” BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who is a leader of the Panchamasali Reservation Agitation Committee, said in Vijayapura on Sunday.

“We never asked for 2A OBC category. It was the Congress leaders in the agitation committee who went around going saying we are looking for re0categorisation into 2A,” Mr. Yatnal told reporters.

But he did not name the Congress leaders.

“We are fully aware of the fact that there are 104 castes in 2A and they are very backward. We do not want to snatch their benefits. We only want what we truly deserve. We want a separate category carved out for us. Mr. Bommai withdrew reservation given to minorities and divided it into 2% slots for Panchamasalis and Vokkaligas. That has been stayed by courts. We want that back,” he said.

He said that he condemns the lathi-charge on protestors in Belagavi and said that the committee will never approach Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the reservation facility in future.

“We will not ask him. We do not want him to extend it to us also,” he said.