Row over minister Suresh’s caste

Ongole: Municipal administration and urban development minister and YSRCP in-charge for the Kondapi, an SC reserved Assembly constituency, Dr Audimulapu Suresh is surrounded by a controversy over his caste.

There are allegations that the minister is wrongly claiming he is SC instead of BC-C. The people making the allegations say that the parents of the minister have themselves mentioned their caste under BC-C, SCs converted to Christianity while working as teachers.

It is also alleged that Suresh’s family embraced Christianity and performed the marriages of their members in the Christian way. They quote that the tombs of Suresh’s parents are also constructed in the Christian method. They are questioning that when the parents themselves announced that they belong to BC-C, how can Suresh claim to be an SC while practising Christianity.

However, Audimulapu Suresh denied the allegations. Speaking to The Hans India, Suresh said, ‘Once you are born in a caste, that caste is irrevocable. Once you are born Dalit, you are Dalit only. I am practising Hinduism and go to temples. These allegations have been made for the last 30 years, and the government already conducted an inquiry into them. I am a born Dalit.”

Meanwhile, his adversaries announced that they would file a petition in court with proof like photos of the marriage of Suresh, and tombs of his parents, along with copies of the declaration of the community by his parents themselves. They said that Suresh was enjoying the power that belonged to the real Dalits, and they would stop him from doing it again.