Sub-Plan Smacks Of Insincerity: MIM

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has criticised the state government for trying to legislate the SC/ST sub-plan without putting the draft into the public domain for suggestions and objections.

Talking to reporters at the Assembly's media point after attending the Business Advisory Committee meeting here on Thursday, MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said that, by not releasing the draft legislation into public domain, the government shows that it is not serious about the welfare of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the state.

He said that the proposed legislation should have been discussed in a regular session of the Legislative Assembly for at least four days. The government, however, he said, appears to be in a haste to pass the legislation without any debate.

Akbaruddin Owaisi said that the government's haste raises suspicion about the existence of several loopholes in the proposed legislation. He claimed that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was trying to prove that he was the champion of SCs and STs. He said that if the Chief Minister had been serious, then he would have taken public suggestions and objections into consideration. Kiran Kumar Reddy's absence from the BAC meeting itself proves that he is not serious about SC/ST sub-plan, he alleged.

The MIM leader said that the government's decision to hold a special session on SC/ST sub-plan while ignoring other issues like the energy crisis, the drinking water problem, and the law-and-order situation, indicates that the Kiran Kumar Reddy is not serious about public welfare. The MIM, however, announced Owaisi, would extend total cooperation to the government on all its moves aimed at the welfare of Dalits. But, he added, such steps should be taken with complete sincerity.

Akbaruddin Owaisi also demanded that the government introduce sub-plans for the minorities and the backward classes along the lines of the SC/ST sub-plan.

Meanwhile, CPI (M) MLA J Ranga Reddy too raised a suspicion on the state government's honesty regarding the proposed law. He said that the government was yet to provide a draft bill to the members and, without studying it properly, they could not participate in the debate. (INN)