Bengaluru, Sept. 21 -- Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday announced that the controversial "Christian" nomenclature utilised in the draft list of castes prepared by the State Backward Classes Commission had been dropped.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, the chief minister said that the Commission had deleted the "Christian" references. "It is not me who removed it. The Backward Classes Commission is a statutory body. We cannot interfere in its decisions. We have given guidelines, which they are following," he said.

On the BJP's allegations of the survey fomenting caste-based division, Siddaramaiah said, "The government should know your (people's) socio-educational and economic status. Without knowing it, how can we for...