In spite of opposition from Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti, the Telangana government on Friday announced its decision to celebrate the birth anniversaries of Babu Jagjivan Ram and Ambedkar under the aegis of Finance Minister Etala Rajender. Jagjivan Ram anniversary is on April 5 and Ambedkar’s on April 14.
A release from Director of Scheduled Castes Development Department M.V. Reddy said the Finance Minister has constituted an organising committee with SC leader Pebbe Jeeva Madiga as Chairpman, B.N. Ramesh Kumar Madiga and Vaggu Balaraju as vice-chairmen.
However, MRPS president Manda Krishna told The Hindu that the organisation was withdrawing its representatives from the organising committee protesting the importance given to Mr. Rajender, a member of the backward classes. He accused the government of deviating from tradition followed in past to appoint a SC member as the chairman. He saw this as a deliberate move to create conflict between BCs and SCs. Mr. Krishna said the MRPS will organise demonstrations all over Telangana from April 5 to 14. Meanwhile, the government has released Rs. 16 lakh for the purpose and orders have been sent out to the districts to organise it in a grand manner, disbursing Rs. 1.6 lakh for each of the 10 districts.
