The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has alleged foul play in the cancellation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appointment given to an all-party delegation from the State led by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and blamed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) founder Manda Krishna for it.
Instead of resorting to a veiled attack as done by most of the political parties when they try to take on the “friendly” opponents, the TRS launched a no-holds barred attack against the ruling party at the Centre by blaming Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and Manda Krishna for cancellation of the appointment given on the issue of categorisation of Scheduled Castes at the eleventh hour.
Chairman of the Telangana State Scheduled Castes Development Corporation Pidamarthi Ravi alleged that there was “a conspiracy behind the cancellation of the appointment to continue the injustice being done to certain communities of SCs”. The conspiracy was unveiled as Mr. Manda Krishna boarded the Delhi train in Secunderabad and alighted from it in Kazipet station in a matter of few hours, he explained.
After calling off his Delhi tour “officially” late on Saturday night, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao left for the national capital on Sunday night, as planned earlier, after some fire-fighting done by both the TRS and BJP leaders in Delhi. Sources in TRS stated that the BJP had attributed the cancellation of the appointment to its political compulsions in the wake of elections in Uttar Pradesh, where dalits comprise a sizeable chunk of the electorate.
To make up for the cancellation of the Chief Minister's official appointment with the Prime Minister, the BJP leadership was understood to have assured Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao of one-on-one meeting with the Prime Minister during the wedding reception of Union Minister Prakash Javadekar's son.
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao, who is also the president of TRS, was said to have made some amends with a view that it was not good for the State (TRS)-Centre (BJP) “ties” by pulling the strings beyond a limit.
Mr. Pidamarthi Ravi wondered how Mr. Venkaiah Naidu could justify his assurance to the Madigas (SCs) that he would make efforts for introduction of the bill during the budget session, when he participated in the “dharma yuddham” rally organised by MRPS here some time ago. “The appointment with the Prime Minister was got cancelled with the fear that the credit will only go it TRS”, he reasoned.
He mentioned that TRS was always in support of Madigas and giving 12 of 19 seats reserved for SCs in the Assembly and 2 out of 3 Lok Sabha seats to Madiga candidates was a testimony.
