TD objects to YSRC MLA comment on Bapatla LS seat

VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam politburo member Varla Ramaiah condemned YSRC MLA Kona Ragupathi's reported comments that reserving Bapatla Lok Sabha seat for scheduled tribes is a historical mistake.

Ramaiah recalled that Bapatla parliamentary seat had been reserved for SCs in 2009, when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had been the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The TD leader asked how can one term it a historical mistake when the seat has been constitutionally allotted to SCs through delimitation.

The TD leader accused Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy of undermining constitutional norms ever since he has become the CM. Bapatla MLA Ragupathi's comments are a reflection of Jagan’s dictatorial tendencies, he remarked.

Ramaiah underlined that during reorganising of districts in AP, people of the new Konaseema district had demanded that it be named after Ambedkar. In the process, Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSRC MLAs and leaders conspired to drag Ambedkar's name into a controversy and insult the great leader.

The TD leader maintained that Bapatla MLA Raghupathi has through his comments insulted Dalits. If Raghupathi has any respect for Dalits, he should unconditionally apologise to Dalits. Further, YSRC Bapatla MP Nandigam Suresh should register his protest by condemning the remarks of his party MLA Raghupathi, he added.