KCR Oppressing BC Community: Uttam

TPCC head and MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was oppressing the people belonging to the Backward Classes (BC) in the state, and was "conspiring" to reduce their political representation.

Speaking at a ceremony organised to welcome party leader Mettu Sai Kumar to his post as Chairman of the Fishermen Congress of Telangana, at the Gandhi Bhavan, Reddy claimed that while preceding Congress regimes had always given the highest priority to the BCs, the TRS government had done nothing for the welfare of any BC groups, including the fishermen community, since it came to power in 2014.

"Under the TRS' rule, the fishermen have almost no representation in any of the elected bodies in the state, which has meant that they have remained one of the most neglected communities under the current regime. What this clearly shows is that the Congress is the only party that is truly concerned about ensuring social justice in the state," he said.

The TPCC head then alleged that the CM had been targeting the BC community ever since he came to power, and that although he had made several promises to the community, none of those had been fulfilled yet.

"Our CM had promised to spend Rs 10,000 crore for the welfare of the BCs in Telangana. Not only was this promise never fulfilled, but the government also went on to either slash existing budgetary allocations meant for the welfare of the community, or failed to release the funds already sanctioned for BC welfare works," he said.

Reddy also flayed the CM for not accepting the demand of introducing a BC Sub-Plan that would focus on the developmental needs of the marginalised BC groups, and accused him of conspiring to reduce their "already-low" representation in law-making posts and local bodies.

Citing an example of this alleged conspiracy, the Congress leader said that the TRS government had reduced the reservation for BCs in the Panchayat elections from 34% to 23%, and claimed that this was aimed at "crushing the BCs politically", and arresting their political empowerment.

On the occasion, Reddy received a fishing net from the Fishermen Congress.

AICC Secretary Srinivasan Krishnan, Fishermen Congress of Telangana head Mallaiah, AICC Spokesperson Dasoju Sravan, TPCC General Secretaries Bollu Kishan and Nagesh, several DCC presidents, and hundreds of Congress workers and other local leaders were present at the function.