Former Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has sought the enumeration of the people belonging to the Backward Classes in the State. He participated in a roundtable organised under the aegis of the BC Cell of the Telugu Desam Party at the Alluri Vignana Kendram in Visakhapatnam on Friday, under the auspices of MLC Duvvarapu Rama Rao.
Mr. Ramakrishnudu told the media that BCs were in the majority in North Andhra. There were 139 castes in the BC community, and a majority of them were dependent on their ancestral trades. Their problems were discussed at the meeting. They should be given economic and social equality. They should also get political empowerment and reservations in politics and legislative bodies, he said.
He said that a census would be done immediately after the TDP came to power in the State. The roundtable had discussed extending concessions to BCs in the budget if there was an economic crisis.
TDP district president Palla Srinivasa Rao alleged that the YSRCP government was grabbing lands in the name of shifting the capital to Visakhapatnam. He demanded that the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) should be continued in the public sector.
CPI leader Marupalli Pydiraju said that the said that the CPI would not support the TDP, if the latter supported the BJP.
Former Minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy also participated in the meeting.
