Senior Congress leaders, on Wednesday, exhorted the party cadre to get closer to the Backward Classes to ensure victory in the 2014 general elections.
Talking to reporters after paying tributes to noted social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on his 186th birth anniversary, at Gandhi Bhavan, on Wednesday, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Chiranjeevi said that it was Mahatma Phule's ideals that had inspired him to launch the Praja Rajyam Party on the plank of social justice.
He demanded that the state government install statues of Mahatma Phule in all the districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Further, he said that the Centre must establish a separate minister for the Backward Classes.
Chiranjeevi claimed that the Congress was doing justice to all the sections of the society, and that the election of R Anand Bhaskar for the Rajya Sabha was one such example.
Rajya Sabha MP and AICC Secretary V Hanumantha Rao said that the Congress must find out the reasons why it was losing the confidence of the Backward Classes. Asking ministers and MLAs to not ignore the cadre, he exhorted them to re-establish their relations with BCs to ensure their victory in the 2014 elections.
Primary Education Minister S Sailajanath said that BCs, SCs and STs must get ready to fight for their rights, in all departments of the state and central governments.
Health Minister Kondru Murali, Secunderabad MP M Anjan Kumar Yadav, MLA Sridhar Krishna Reddy and others leaders participated in the program. (INN)
filed in:Chiranjeevi, Backward Classes, V Hanumantha Rao, Congress