'Don't boycott LS polls, instead support us for political reservation': MoS Naik to ST community

Panaji, Aug 22 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik on Tuesday said that instead of boycotting the Lok Sabha elections, the Scheduled Tribe community from Goa should support his government to get the political reservation.

"Ultimately, the Goa government and central government will do it (reservation). They (ST) should not work against the government and create trouble for themselves (creating hurdles for reservation procedure)," Naik said, speaking to reporters here.

"They should support us and we will 100 per cent support them. They should think over it. We will definitely work in their interest. Procedure is going on in a positive way," Naik further said.

Naik said that he has done his best to do the basic procedure and was part of delegations to meet concerned ministers at the centre.

BJP's senior leader Naik's statement came after the legislative department of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice stated that the exercise of reserving seats for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the state legislative assembly would only take place through a Delimitation Commission after 2026.

After receiving a letter from the legislative department of the Union Ministry of Law and Justice over the reservation issue, the ST community in Goa has once again warned of boycotting the Lok Sabha election in 2024 as the Centre has clarified that they will have to wait beyond 2026 for political reservation.

The recently-concluded monsoon session of the Goa Assembly had unanimously adopted a private member resolution to make provision for political reservation in the Assembly for members from the ST in the state.