Andhra Pradesh government in haste to implement categorisation of Scheduled Castes, alleges senior Congress leader Chinta Mohan

Andhra Pradesh government in haste to implement categorisation of Scheduled Castes, alleges senior Congress leader Chinta Mohan

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Chinta Mohan has alleged that the State government is rushing ahead with the process of categorisation of Scheduled Castes in Andhra Pradesh, while neighbouring States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala had ignored the Supreme Court judgment on the issue.

Addressing a media conference here on Friday, Mr. Chinta Mohan found fault with the State government for appointing a one-man Commission of Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, a retired IAS officer, to receive representations from people on the sub-classification of SCs. He wondered whether Mr. Mishra, has any knowledge of ‘untouchability’ and the sufferings of SCs over the past several centuries.

Saying that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was committing a blunder, he called upon him to rectify his mistake as the SCs were preparing for widespread protests, against the decision, from Visakhapatnam. The SCs in Andhra Pradesh were planning to organise protests on the National Highways and even in rural areas, Dr. Mohan said.

He demanded that the Chief Minister respond on the SC categorisation issue during his tour of Visakhapatnam on Saturday (January 4). He alleged that the population of SCs was shown much below their actual number, by conducting surveys with the help of village and ward secretariat staff. He also demanded that Mr.Naidu strive to protect Visakhapatnam Steel Plant(VSP) by taking up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the latter’s tour of Visakhapatnam on January 8.