TPCC pitches for BC quota hike

Huzurnagar: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday demanded that the State government increase the quota for all categories of Backward Classes.

Addressing a meeting of party workers in his constituency, Huzurnagar in Suryapet district, , Uttam Kumar Reddy welcomed the proposed increase in quota for Muslims from present 4 per cent to 12 per cent. He, however, said when quota for Muslim communities under BC-E categories was being increased, then quota for BCs under A, B, C and D categories should also be increased in proportionate to their population. Similarly, he said the quota for Scheduled Tribes (STs) should be increased to 12 per cent as promised by the TRS in its election manifesto for 2014 elections. He slammed Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for not making a mention of increase in quota for STs during the review meeting he held at Pragati Bhavan on Friday.

Uttam Kumar Reddy also ridiculed the hype KCR has been trying to create around 24-hour power supply to farmers. He said it was due to the vision of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that except for six States and one union territory, today the entire country is energy surplus. Every unit of power being generated in the State today was due to the projects launched during previous Congress regime. The TRS government did not generate a single unit from the power projects that it proposed and most of them still remained non-starters.

He said KCR has become habitual of taking credit for achievements of previous Congress regime. Citing another instance, he said Hyderabad Metro Rail Project was approved, designed and started during the Congress regime. The TRS government cannot claim credit for the project. Therefore, it created obstacles and delayed the project by over two years. Now the same project is being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narender Modi on November 28. KCR would again make false claims to show as if he conceptualised the Hyderabad Metro Rail project. The TPCC chief gave a detailed account of how TRS government had cheated the farmers and pushed the entire farm sector into crisis.

He said the crop loan waiver scheme was not implemented properly and even the interest amount that got accumulated due to split of amount into four instalments and delay in making payments was not cleared. He said over Rs. 20,000 crore were paid to contractors of Mission Bhagiratha and other projects allegedly to get six per cent commissions. But poor farmers were left in the lurch. Even the assurances given in Assembly on multiple occasions on clearing interest amount were not honoured, he said, adding that the Congress had submitted documentary evidence to Assembly Speaker as proof that the Chief Minister lied on the floor of the House.

Stating that the Congress party would return to power in 2019, Uttam Kumar Reddy announced that it would waive crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh in a single take. He also promised that in addition to the MSP, farmers would be paid additional bonus on their produce. He also promised that a monthly allowance of Rs. 3,000 would be paid to all jobless youth. The meeting was also addressed by TPCC Chief Spokesperson Dasoju Sravan and other senior leaders.