Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy has accepted the invitation sent by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to join the all-party delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a Bill in Parliament on categorisation of Scheduled Castes.
The decision to accept the CM’s invitation was taken during a meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday. The meeting, chaired by Uttam Kumar Reddy, was attended by former PCC presidents V. Hanumantha Rao and Ponnala Lakshmaiah, MP Nandi Ellaiah, former union minister Sarve Satyanarayana and MLA A. Sampath Kumar.
Addressing a press conference later, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress party has been fighting for the cause of SC categorisation since a long time. He reminded that a resolution was passed in the then united Andhra Pradesh Assembly in 2004 supporting SC categorisation. A delegation, led by the then Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, made a representation to the then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Union Minister for Social Justice Meira Kumar. Subsequently, the Centre constituted Justice Usha Mehra Commission to study the issue of classification of SCs.
The TPCC chief said that the Congress party has been vigorously pursuing the SC categorisaion issue after the formation of Telangana State. He said Congress MLA Sampath Kumar, along with other SC MLAs raised the issue in the State Assembly and even faced suspension for stalling the proceedings of the House.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that he would be part of the all-party delegation which would meet the Prime Minister at New Delhi on February 6 seeking Constitutional amendment to implement categorisation of SCs. He said that the Chief Minister should not confine himself to submission of a memorandum, but he must pressurise the Centre for introduction and passing of the SC Categorisation Bill in the Parliament. (NSS)