Bengaluru: With assembly elections around the corner, the state government is contemplating increasing reservation for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SC/ST) from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. At the Valmiki Jayanti celebrations in Vidhana Soudha on Thursday, chief minister Siddaramaiah said there has been an unequal ratio of reservation for the SC/ST population in Karnataka. “We are looking at increasing reservation for the ST community from 7.5 per cent to 17 per cent,” he said.

The CM said the government is considering the Tamil Nadu model in increasing quota for the SC/ST community and asked the backward classes commission to look into the legal validity of the proposal.He said the community’s concerns will be addressed at the ST rally planned in Ballari in the first week of December.

Heavy rain played the spoilsport at the celebrations. As soon as the sky opened up, the crowd started running helter skelter. Some carried chairs to cover themselves from the downpour. As many as 1,000 chairs are reportedly missing from the venue.

People, who have come from across the state, rued that the government had failed in providing basic facilities like toilets, forcing many of them to urinate on the lawns and premises of the secretariat.