After Ambedkar statue unveiling, BRS focus is Dalit, Girijan outreach
Hyderabad: With the Assembly elections in the state coming up in a few months, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is going all out to win the hearts of Dalits and Girijans by aggressively pursuing the Dalit and Girijan outreach campaign following the inauguration of the 125-foot statue of Dr B.R. Ambedkar in the city on April 14 .
As a first step towards the aggressive outreach campaign, the party decided to mobilise Dalits and Girijans from every Assembly constituency to Hyderabad on 14 April for the Ambedkar statue inaugural event, which would be addressed by the CM. The party has set a target of mobilising 300 people from each constituency.
Telangana has 31 reserved Assembly seats, with 19 reserved for Dalits (Scheduled Castes) and 12 reserved for Girijans (Scheduled Tribes). As a result, the CM has summoned a special meeting with the party's Dalit and Girijan MLAs to discuss how to further sharpen and focus the party's outreach plans.
In an effort to win over Dalits and Girijans, the CM has announced a slew of initiatives, including the Dalit Bandhu and Girijan Bandhu, as well as enhancing reservations for STS from 6 per cent to 10 per cent and naming the new Secretariat after Dr B.R. Ambedkar, one of the most iconic figures of the time.
The BRS MLAs represent 28 reserved seats. In order to make a clean sweep, the BRS government plans to highlight pro-Dalit and pro-Girijan schemes such as Dalit Bandhu, T-Pride for Dalits, and 10% reservations for STs. In addition, the Chandrasekar Rao-led BRS government plans to hand out cheques worth Rs 500 crore to 8,000 Dalit entrepreneurs on April 14 in a bid to woo the Dalit vote bank.
The CM will outline the BRS government's initiatives, such as the Telangana State Program for Rapid Incubation Dalit Entrepreneurs Incentive Scheme (T-Pride), which allows Dalit entrepreneurs to establish their own units/industries, and the Dalit Bandhu scheme, which promises to empower the community by providing financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to Dalit families. The KCR government has disbursed nearly Rs 2,700 crore to Dalit entrepreneurs over the last nine years, with nearly 39,000 beneficiaries receiving Dalit Bandhu of Rs 10 lakh each since the scheme's inception in August 2021.
As part of the outreach programme, the BRS MLAs will highlight state government initiatives such as increasing ST reservations in education and employment from 6% to 10% in November 2023, and the construction of Komaram Bheem Adivasi Bhavan and Sevalal Banjara Bhavan on Banjara Hills Road No. 10 in September 2022. For the uninitiated, the Banjara Bhavan with 61,544 sft was built at a cost of Rs 24.43 crore, while the Adivasi Bhavan with 82,009 sft was built at a cost of Rs 24.68 crore. In addition, the CM is planning to announce the construction of Adivasi and Banjara Bhavans in all the constituencies where there is significant Girijan population. The CM will discuss all these issues in his meeting with Dalit and Girijan MLAs.
