CM Urges Prolonged Fight Over Delimitation

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has called for a protracted struggle against the Union government, opposing an increase in seats for southern States based on the pro-rata principle during the delimitation of constituencies.

Participating today in the 135th birth anniversary of the architect of the Indian Constitution B R Ambedkar, the Chief Minister said that the BJP was conspiring to reduce the fund allocation for the southern States through the delimitation.

While the BJP-led Union government proposes to increase seats by a uniform 50% for every State, the Congress still feels that it will discriminate against the Southern States since the absolute difference in the number of MPs between the Northern and Southern States will be much higher.

The Chief Minister added that the Centre's move would also result in grave injustice to the women, and SC and ST communities in the southern States, since they would also be affected by what would affect all other citizens of the Southern States.

Stating that the Congress government had accorded top priority to the empowerment of the SC community, Reddy said that the BRS rulers never garlanded or paid homage to Dr Ambedkar's statue during their 10-year rule.

The Chief Minister also slammed former Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for "not attending the Assembly sessions", and said that KCR insulted the Speaker by staying away.

"Are not the sons and daughters of the dalit community entitled to serve as Finance Minister and Health Minister? It is this Congress government that has brought about a transformation where those who once insulted dalits are now compelled to request a dalit individual for a microphone to speak in the Assembly," Reddy said.

The Chief Minister said that some leaders were attempting to sabotage the government's efforts to empower poorer sections, and appealed to the people to bury the BRS for its politics of betrayal.

On the occasion, Revanth Reddy recalled the services of Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar to the country.

"Mahatma Gandhi proved that a war could be won through peace without shedding a single drop of blood. Ambedkar's role in steering the nation onto the path of development was equally significant. We consider Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar as the two eyes of this nation. The entire world is now embracing and following Ambedkar's ideals. Ambedkar strongly believed that education alone holds the power to transform our lives. Ambedkar's philosophy constitutes the very essence of our democratic governance. It was through Article 3 of the Constitution that Sonia Gandhi facilitated the formation of the State of Telangana," he said.

To empower the poor, Reddy said that the government had increased diet charges for students in hostels, was establishing Young India Integrated Schools to eliminate caste-based disparities, and introducing Telangana Public Schools to provide quality education.

"Also, in just two years, the government has distributed 4.5 lakh Indiramma houses, with the majority of the beneficiaries being dalits and tribals. 87% of the jobs have been given to SC, ST, BC and minority communities," he added.