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Ambedkar issue: MP apologises

Special Correspondent

Chief Minister alleges conspiracy to defame Vundavalli

PHOTO : P.V. SIVAKUMAR

Tit for tat: Telugu Desam MLAs cleansing the statue of B.R. Ambedkar with milk in Hyderabad on Monday to protest the remarks of Congress MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar.

HYDERABAD: Congress MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar tendered an unconditional apology in a bid to put at rest the raging controversy over his remarks in the Rajahmundry Municipal Corporation about the architect of the Constitution B. R. Ambedkar that rocked both Houses of the State Legislature.

Mr. Arun Kumar stated in New Delhi that his observations had hurt the sentiments of the Dalits leading to widespread protests.

Seeking the pardon of Dalits, he said he held the Dalits in high esteem and it was due to their support that he was elected to Parliament from Rajahmundry.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, in a suo motu statement in the Assembly, sought to defend Mr. Arun Kumar against the Opposition’s attack and offered to order an inquiry into the matter by a judge, Dalit leaders, the State Human Rights Commission or the Scheduled Castes Commission, depending upon the choice of the Opposition.

He offered to invite Dalit leaders like Jupudi Prabhakar Rao and Manda Krishna Madiga for the probe. Dr. Reddy alleged that two Telugu dailies, that were pro-Telugu Desam, and a private television channel had deliberately distorted the MP’s remarks on Saturday.

This was part of a conspiracy aimed at maligning Mr. Arun Kumar as he had exposed irregularities to the tune of nearly Rs. 3,000 crore committed by the company owned by media baron Ch. Ramoj Rao.

He said the Telugu Desam was trying to politicise a non-issue with an ulterior motive.

Opposition parties, barring Telugu Desam whose members were suspended earlier, spurned the offer, saying that an apology from the MP would suffice and that the matter could be closed as he had already expressed regrets.

D. Sambaiah (Congress) who demanded the MP’s resignation earlier, took the same stand, as also Ministers K. Ranga Rao and G. Surya Rao.

Narrating sequence of events at the Corporation meeting, Dr. Reddy said when some corporators wanted to know as to who had given powers to the Rajahmundry Commissioner (a Dalit) to appoint four corporators on the committee to monitor Indiramma houses, Mr. Arun Kumar contended that it was to the misfortune of the questioners that the Commissioner obtained his powers from the Constitution of Ambedkar. Although the meeting took place at 1.30 pm, a TV channel telecast the news only at 8 pm indicating that a lot of backdoor work had gone into the decision.

Politician of values

Dr. Reddy said Mr Arun Kumar was a politician of values and ethics and held Dr. Amebdkar in high esteem. The MP stood like a rock in support of his niece when his Brahmin family kept her at a distance after she married a Dalit.

Dr. Reddy said Congress leaders were “trained” in values of Amebdkar too. In his own family, his aunts married Dalits.

Referring to a comment made by M. A. Gafoor (CPI-M) alleging that the Chief Minister’s justification of the MP showed “upper caste arrogance”, the Municipal Administration Minister said Brahmins, indeed, educated many Dalits who later became IAS officers.

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