Chennai: War of words over the 10.5% reservation for vanniyars continued in the assembly on Friday. “We have urged Union govt to conduct a caste census along with the census. Our govt will conduct a social justice survey after that,” minister for backward classes welfare V Sampath Kumar said.His statement came amid a sharp exchange between DMK and AIADMK. Former DMK ministers E V Velu and M R K Panneerselvam took on AIADMK leader C Ve Shanmugam for alleging that a relative of a DMK leader had approached the court against the 10.5% reservation introduced by AIADMK govt in 2021.Panneerselvam said Shanmugam provided “wrong information” on the floor of the House. Shanmugam initially stood by his statement but later conceded that his remarks were “not correct” and said, “I withdraw my statement”.
