Hubballi: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday demanded that the Centre remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations and increase it to 68 per cent.

Kharge also accused the union government of not being keen on conducting the caste census initially and agreeing after the pressure built by the Congress party.

“I demand that the Centre remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations and increase it to 67 to 68 per cent,” he said addressing a public meeting in Hubballi.

The Congress held the event under the title, “Save Constitution, Save the Country”. The event is also against the price rise.

The party has alleged that the Centre was responsible for the hike in prices of essential commodities.

According to Kharge, the reservation should be increased to 68 per cent in line with the reservation provided by the Tamil Nadu government.

He charged that the Centre was coming on way to increase reservation to 67 to 68 per cent.

The Congress president alleged that the Centre was initially not keen on conducting the caste census.

“The Centre never wanted to even conduct census but we don’t know how good sense prevailed upon them,” he quipped.

He also sought to know why the census did not take place in 2021.

Had it happened then, we would have come to know the condition of the citizens, their per capita income, their salaries, number of jobs created and the number of people who came out of poverty, Kharge noted.

The Congress chief further said, “Now that the BJP-led Centre has decided to conduct it, our hunch is that the central government is not doing the exercise wholeheartedly.”

Kharge set a deadline of three months to conclude the enumeration work.

“You have to do it in three months, then only we will conclude that you are interested in conducting the census. If you fail to do so then we will believe that you are not keen on it,” he said.

He also underlined that he and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had built pressure on the Centre to get it done.

Kharge, the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, reiterated his demand for a special Parliament session on the Pahalgam terror strike.

“Explain to us what and why it happened in Pahalgam. Was it due to intelligence and security lapse by the central forces, local police or the Border Security Forces?” he asked.

Noting that terrorists shot dead 26 innocent people, Kharge said the Centre should explain the details of the incident.

He reiterated the demand for an all-party meeting.

Kharge flayed Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his statement that Pahalgam-like incidents would continue to disturb until 140 crore Indians do not regard patriotism as their paramount ‘Dharma’.

“A Union Minister says 140 crore people of the country lack patriotism. If they had patriotism, no one would have troubled us. This is absurd. You mean to say all 140 crore people are anti-nationals? Are you all sitting here are anti-nationals and only BJP people are patriots?” Kharge alleged.

“These people were ready to see the country to the British. They were working for the British but it was only Congressmen who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the country. It was we who went to jail,” he added.