Bengaluru, Jul 31 (PTI) Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Thursday said he has called a meeting of ruling Congress legislators and ministers from the Scheduled Castes, ahead of the Justice H N Nagmohan Das Commission submitting its survey report, aimed at providing internal reservation among SCs in the state.

He said the meeting is aimed at gathering the opinions of people in the party from various SC sub-castes, and to ensure that there is no confusion.

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According to sources, the meeting is likely to take place of August 2, ahead of Justice Nagmohan Das Commission submitting its report on August 4.

"Ahead of Nagmohan Das Commission submitting the report, we wanted to have a discussion on it, so as to ensure that no one is upset or there is no confusion, and to understand each other's opinion. So I have called a meeting," Paramehwara said in response to a question.

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Speaking to reporters here, he said the survey is said to have been completed and a report is likely to be submitted soon.

"We wanted to have a discussion on various sub castes and their opinion. Earlier too, I had held such a meeting before the survey. This is a continuation of it. Now as the survey is completed, we will have discussions to ensure that there is no confusion," he added.

To a question about the Congress high command intervening and putting a stop to a similar "dinner meeting" of Congress legislators and ministers and from SC/ST communities earlier this year, Parameshwara said, "It (stop) was not for such a meeting. We had planned a huge rally and they had said it should be postponed for the time being. They (high command) will not put any stop to meetings of legislators and they can't do it. It is within our limits."

Asked about whether there will be a dinner meeting this time too, he said, "Dinner or lunch or coffee meeting, we will do something."

Such a "dinner meeting" of Congress SC/ST leaders and ministers in January had created buzz about leadership change, while those who were part of it, including Parameshwara had said that it was a preparatory meeting for the SC/ST convention that they were planning aimed at consolidating the community's support in favour of the party.

The government, in November last year, had appointed retired judge of the Karnataka High Court Nagmohan Das to head a commission to recommend internal reservation among SCs, after the Supreme Court last year allowed the states to provide internal reservation, and the State Cabinet agreed to implement internal reservation.

In a landmark verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on August 1 last year, it held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the SCs, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.

A section of SCs, like 'SC Left', have been demanding internal reservation, alleging that only a few influential sub-castes were taking away a majority of the benefits, while many communities were still marginalised.

The internal reservation is aimed at slicing up the 17 per cent reservation matrix given to 101 scheduled castes.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)