Take all-party team to Delhi: Opposition

Hyderabad: Opposition parties and the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T JAC) on Monday demanded that the government lead an all-party delegation to New Delhi to press for categorisation of Scheduled Castes into ABCD.

A a round-table meeting, organised by MRPS founder Manda Krishna Madiga at Somajiguda Press Club here, was attended by T JAC Chairman Prof M Kodandaram, TPCC chief N Uttam Kumar Reddy, BJP president K Laxman, CPI State Secretary Chada Venkat Reddy and others.

Prof Kodandaram demanded that the government pass a resolution in State Assembly, urging the Centre to take up categorisation of SCs. He also appealed to the government to take a delegation to New Delhi. “If the State government fails to take a delegation, we all should go to Delhi and give a memorandum to the Central leaders,” said Prof Kodandaram. He stressed need for efforts on the part of all to protect the rights of Dalits.

TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy pledged the Congress party’s support to the demand for categorisation of Scheduled Castes. He said he would take up the issue with AICC President Rahul Gandhi. “If the PM was busy in Delhi, then KCR should have arranged an all-party interaction with PM Modi during his visit to Hyderabad. 

They had time to hold talks with Ivanka Trump and inaugurate other things, but they were too busy to spend a few minutes on such a major issue like SC categorisation,” he said. BJP president K Laxman said because of the legal tangle, the SC categorisation was delayed. He said he would take up the issue with their party president Amit Shah during his meeting on January 31. 

“If the Chief Minister can take responsibility of taking the delegation to the Centre, we will strive for convincing the Centre,” said Laxman. Balladeer Gaddar said the government should consider the SC categorisation agitation as a political issue and solve it. Gaddar said he had supported MRPS agitation as a Naxalite and added that he would continue to support the agitation. He urged the political parties to gather support of all in Parliament.

CPI (ML) New Democracy leader K Goverdhan said the benefits of reservation provided by Dr B R Ambedkar were reaching very few people and many downtrodden were not getting the benefits. At a time when MRPS was taking up categorisation agitation, the TRS government was trying to undermine it. 

TDP president L Ramana said his party had always supported the MRPS agitation. He urged the MRPS president to bring pressure on the political parties in Parliament for categorisation. Chada Venkat Reddy said the MRPS has the ability to bring pressure on the government for categorisation.