The Andhra Pradesh Adivasi Joint Action Committee (JAC) has objected to the candidature of Kothapalli Geetha as the BJP candidate for the Araku Parliamentary constituency (ST), alleging that she does not belong to the ST community.
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In a statement on Monday, the JAC Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) district committee convener Ramarao Dora called upon the Adivasis in BJP to resign from that party and work for the defeat of Ms. Geetha, who he alleged does not belong to the Adivasi community and was also involved in a ₹42 crore bank fraud case in 2015.
Mr. Dora alleged that the BJP was trying to reduce the representation of Adivasis in the legislative bodies, so that it could go ahead with the ‘loot of resources’ from the forest areas. He said the BJP giving the party ticket to Ms. Geetha, who was facing charges of being a non-tribal, was an attempt to reduce the representation of Adivasis in elected bodies.
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He said that if the BJP-JSP-TDP alliance candidates were not defeated in the 2024 elections, there was a danger of the BJP government totally depriving Adivasis of their representation in elected bodies. He opined that the BJP government could include some more communities like Boya, Valmiki and Bentho Oriya tribes in the ST list.
The BJP, which made tall claims of striving for the welfare of Adivasis after making a tribal woman as President of India, had withdrawn the powers of Gram Sabhas by bringing in the new Forest Rights Act - 2023, he alleged. The bauxite mining activities at Niyamgiri in Odisha and Jerrela in A.P. were opposed through resolutions in the Gram Sabha.
However, the BJP government has now changed the guidelines. He alleged that the BJP government would try to start mining activities in the Agency areas by making a ‘bogus ST’ like Ms. Kothapalli Geetha as the Araku MP. He appealed to the tribal people not to fall a prey to the NDA alliance parties and risk losing their rights on the forests.