It was another day of war of words between the treasury and opposition benches which culminated in the walk out by YSR Congress in Assembly on Wednesday during discussion on budget allocations for SC, ST and BCs.
With the Telugu Desam and YSRC vying to take credit for uplift of dalits and Backward Classes, the House witnessed uproarious scenes and angry rebuttals by Social Welfare Minister Ravela Kishore Babu and Leader of Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
Earlier, several Telugu Desam members said Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu was the first Chief Minister in the country to propose BC Sub-plan on the lines of SC, ST sub-plans and the YSRC retorted by listing out chinks in the budget allocations for social welfare. Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy reeling out numbers said while Rs.1,500 crore allocated for ST Sub Plan in 2014-15, only Rs.1,040 crore was spent. The number of pensions was reduced from 43 lakh to 37 lakh and of Rs.3,741 crore allocated, Rs.1,100 crore was not spent.
In his counter, Mr. Kishore Babu said it was YSR who defended diversion of SC, ST funds to Outer Ring Road, Hussain Sagar and his government had tried to exploit tribals through bauxite mining and took away their lands for SEZs. The Congress had made the ITDAs redundant which were now being revived by TD government.
The ruling party members criticised that the Congress had used SC, STs and BCs as mere vote bank. It was Telugu Desam founder late N.T. Ramarao and later Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, who gave BCs an identity, representation in local bodies and priority in welfare schemes. YSRC MLA.Eswari, however, said ST and SCs got a raw deal in the budget. People in six out of seven ST constituencies elected YSRC candidates.
When she said pensions were curtailed to dalits and tribals, Minister Kishore Babu said the MLA was misleading the House. Recalling that TRICOR and SC corporation were closed down during YSR tenure and were revived by Mr. Naidu, he asked her to do her homework first. “YSRC was exploiting the innocence and ignorance of STs and SCs,” he said which drew vociferous protests and members rushed to the podium.
Later when the Minister was giving clarification, the members refused to leave the podium. When the Speaker asked Mr. Jagan to call his members back and speak after the Minister’s reply, he responded with a walk-out.
YSR Congress is exploiting the innocence and ignorance of STs and SCs
Ravela Kishore Babu
Social Welfare Minister
