Date:22/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/22/stories/2008082260170700.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

TDP promises quota for weaker sections in corporate colleges

HYDERABAD: Telugu Desam president, N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday said that statutory reservations would be made for weaker sections in corporate colleges and two acres would be allotted to each family of the landless poor, if the party comes to power.

Addressing a meeting of the Scheduled Caste cell of the party, Mr. Naidu continued to go on his promise-making spree and said a decision on demanding reservations in private sector would be taken after discussing it in the polit bureau.

He ridiculed Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s statement in Prakasam district that the Congress government had done everything for the people and wondered why the poor remained at the same level.

During the last four years, the budgetary allocation for Scheduled Caste welfare was a mere Rs. 5,142 crore and the amount spent was just Rs. 1, 956 crore.

History showed that whenever Congress ruled the State, weaker sections remained suppressed, he said.