Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has strongly condemned the arrest of MRPS chief Manda Krishna Madiga and described it as illegal.
In a media statement on Thursday, Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao for suppressing the agitation by MRPS leader Krishna Madiga seeking categorisation of Scheduled Castes. He reminded that when a MRPS activist Bharathi died during a protest at Hyderabad Collectorate on November 6, the Chief Minister had made a statement in State Legislative Assembly assuring that he would take an all-party delegation to Delhi. Even after two months, KCR did nothing to resolve the issue. Instead, he said Krishna Madiga has been arrested twice to suppress the agitation.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the arrest of Krishna Madiga and other MRPS activists was an open violation of fundamental right of freedom of speech. He said everyone has a right to hold protest in a democratic manner. However, by simply refusing to permit any kind of agitation by MRPS, TRS Government is working against the spirit of democracy. He alleged that KCR Government was mistreating Krishna Madiga, who has been fighting for SC categorization for the last 23 years. He demanded that the State Government immediately release Krishna Madiga and other MRPS activists and withdraw all the cases registered against them. He also demanded that the Chief Minister take an all-party delegation to Delhi to find a solution to SC categorization issue.