KCR's Promise Of ST Quota Hike, Girijan Bandhu, Fake: Congress

Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy cautioned the Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities against the "fake assurances" given by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to enhance the quota for them in jobs and education from the present 6% to 10%.

Further, KCR's announcement of a Girijan Bandhu scheme to give Rs 10 lakh assistance to deserving ST families was also just another mirage, he claimed.

"The Congress has been demanding an increase in the ST quota to 10% since 2014. I made several representations to the Chief Minister in the last eight years suggesting that the State Government issue a GO to enhance the ST quota in jobs and education from the present 6% to 10%. I also raised the issue in Parliament several times, and also made a representation to the President of India Draupadi Murmu on the 22nd of August this year. However, neither did CM KCR react to my suggestion nor did Prime Minister Narendra Modi respond to the demand for a hike in the ST quota. Now, in view of the changing political circumstances, KCR has announced that he will issue a GO for enhancing the ST quota. But I seriously doubt his intentions. He will delay the GO till the issue of the notification for the Munugode by-election, and postpone GO citing the Model Code of Conduct. This is a usual trick which KCR always plays to lure voters in a by-election," Reddy said.

Reddy added that if KCR was sincere towards the STs, he should issue the GO immediately without waiting for a day.

"Why does he need to wait for a week to issue a simple GO? It can be done within an hour if the Chief Minister is serious. However, KCR timed the announcement in such a way that he could delay it further on the pretext of the Model Code of Conduct for the Munugode by-poll," he said.

The Congress MP added that the State government should have enhanced the ST quota to 10% by issuing a GO in June-July 2014 itself.

"The ST community lost thousands of government jobs and lakhs of seats in government colleges in the last eight years due to the delay in enhancing the quota to 10%. The TRS government, especially CM KCR, is responsible for this loss. How does KCR propose to compensate for this loss to the ST communities?" he asked, and demanded that the State government implement the enhanced ST quota with retrospective effect from 2014.

The MP also said that the issue of podu lands was created by the TRS government itself. He said that the previous Congress government had given rights to the STs who were cultivating those lands for many decades. He said that it was the TRS government which had snatched the podu lands from the tribals on the pretext of Haritha Haram and for other reasons. He said that giving ownership rights to the tribals on podu lands was not a favour being done by KCR to the STs, but the surrender of his government to the thousands of STs who were struggling for their rights. He demanded that the State government also immediately withdraw all the cases registered against the tribals during the podu land agitation in Telangana.

"Also, as against the promise of giving Rs 10 lakh assistance to nearly 17 lakh poor dalit families in Telangana under the Dalit Bandhu scheme, the KCR government did not help even 5,000 families. The TRS government will treat the STs similarly. A few hundred families, especially those of TRS workers, will be picked as beneficiaries under the proposed Girijan Bandhu scheme, and hype will be created as if all the ST families got Rs 10 lakh each. This is just another mirage being created by KCR. KCR cheated the people in the name of Dalit Bandhu during the Huzurabad by-election, and for the Munugode by-election he wants to cheat in the name of Girijan Bandhu," Reddy alleged.

Reddy asked KCR to specify when the poor deserving ST families would be given the promised three acres of land. He said that the TRS government must also give a deadline for the creation of infrastructure for the Lambada Thandas to be converted into new gram panchayats.