Jeevan Reddy lashes out at KCR wants Dalits to be part of governance

Nampally: Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy on Thursday slammed Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accusing him of playing with sentiments of Dalits of the State. He claimed that KCR would be reminded of "self-respect of Dalits whenever there is an election."

Speaking to media persons at Assembly media point, Reddy alleged that the CM, who had promised to make a Dalit as State's Chief Minister, himself took the post by retracting his promise. He pointed out that KCR who had made a Dalit the deputy CM in his first term, did not do so in his second. He demanded the CM to make Dalits, who are 15 percent of the population, a part of governance while noting that he had made only one Dalit minister, instead of three ministers, as per their population. "KCR is hurting feelings of the Dalits after retracting from his promise of providing three acres of land to Dalits in the State."

The MLC contended that the CM was giving only Rs10 lakh to Dalits, instead of Rs30 lakh in lieu of the three acres, in the form of Dalit Bandhu scheme . He accused KCR of depriving 35,000 unemployed Dalits government jobs and asked why he would not give the deputy CM's post to his Cabinet colleague Koppula Eshwar. He pointed out that KCR did not have right to seek Dalit votes until he solved their problems.