CHENNAI: The war of words over the 10.5% internal reservation for vanniyars continued in the assembly on Friday, with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam govt saying it would conduct a social justice survey after the Union govt completes the caste census as part of the ongoing population census.Minister for backward classes welfare V Sampath Kumar said the TVK govt believed in Thanthai Periyar’s ideology of “everything for everyone” and was committed to ensuring fair representation for all sections of society.“The foundation of our party is social justice and ensuring fair representation for all sections. We have insisted that the Union govt conduct a caste census along with the population census. Once the exercise is completed, our govt will conduct a social justice survey,” he said, amid a heated debate over the demand for 10.5% reservation for vanniyars.The minister’s statement came after a sharp exchange between the DMK and AIADMK over the issue. Former minister C Ve Shanmugam on Thursday alleged that a relative of a DMK leader had approached the court against the 10.5% reservation for vanniyars, thereby derailing efforts to provide internal reservation to the community.The debate spilled over to Friday. Former DMK ministers E V Velu and M R K Panneerselvam rejected the allegation. Panneerselvam said Shanmugam had placed “wrong information” on the floor of the House by claiming that a relative of the DMK leader’s family had filed the case. “It was our leader’s family that ensured reservation for the backward and most backward classes,” Panneerselvam said, challenging Shanmugam to produce evidence to substantiate his claim.Shanmugam initially stood by his statement but later conceded that his remarks were “not correct” and said, “I withdraw my statement”, bringing confrontation to an end.
