Date:01/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/01/stories/2007100159150600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Dattatreya charges Chief Minister with adopting anti-BC stand

Special Correspondent

Indifference towards release of BC scholarship amounts cited

- PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU

Making presence felt: Retired High Court judge B.S.A. Swamy greeting BJP State president Bandaru Dattatreya at a meeting in Hyderabad on Sunday.

HYDERABAD: BJP State president B. Dattatreya has accused Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of adopting an anti-Backward Class stand which was reflected in the latter’s indifference towards release of BC scholarship amounts.

The State Government had failed to disburse scholarships to BC students to the tune of Rs. 350 crore.

The BJP took up the cause of the students as they were anguished, yet the Government released only Rs. 65 crore, Mr. Dattatreya told a meeting on Sunday organised by the National Union of BCs to discuss proposals to include new castes in BCs.

Lack of opportunities

He said the BC students were talented but they did not have opportunities to excel.

Not a single hostel was sanctioned for them in the State in the last decade.

Mr. Dattatreya demanded a house-to-house survey on socio-economic backwardness of communities demanding BC status.

Retired judge of High Court B.S.A. Swamy opposed inclusion of Kapus among BCs as they were not only rich but worked against Mandal Commission.

Paradoxical situation

K. Murali Manohar Rao, president, Other Backward Classes Forum of Warangal, said a paradoxical situation prevailed in the State with the Government wanting to drop some castes from the list of BCs and add some others.

The exercise was taken up without putting people on notice about its intentions.

Baburao Verma, former member of National Commission for BCs, and K. Jaya Prasad, president of National Union of BCs, spoke.