Hyderabad: Senior BJP leader Etala Rajendar on Sunday sought the state government to change the category of the Mudiraj community from BC-D to BC-A to extend reservations in education and employment while slamming Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao for failing to already have done so.
Rajender said that the Mudiraj community held a huge public meeting on December 18, 2016, at Nizam College Ground to press their demand but Rao failed to act on the issue in seven years.
Addressing the ‘Mudiraj Atmagaurava Sabha’ at Parade Ground on Sunday, Rajender accused all political parties of neglecting the Mudiraj community. He said that when Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy was Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, he issued a GO changing the Mudiraj community from BC-D to BC-A category, but it was implemented for only a year due to litigation.
“At the same time, YSR announced reservations for minorities. This is still in force. There are seven minority MLAs. They fought for it in the Supreme Court and safeguarded their reservations. Mudiraj community has no MLA and that's why this issue was neglected,” Rajender said.
Rajendar said that the community accounts for 11 per cent of the state population and the state government must allot Rs 20,000 crore for their welfare.
“What Mudirajs are now getting under BRS regime is just Rs 500 crore, in the name of free distribution of fishlings. I demand state government give us money, not fishlings. We can purchase fishlings on our own. We demand total rights to the Mudiraj community on irrigation projects and water bodies. Membership should be given to every Mudiraj person in fishermen societies. If the state government installs solar panels in irrigation projects and hits our livelihood, we are ready to destroy those solar panels,” Rajender warned.
He, again, attacked Rao for not allocating a single ticket to a Mudiraj community member for the upcoming polls.
“Mudirajs should get 11 MLA tickets, in proportionate to our population. But BRS did not allot a single ticket. This amounts to insulting the Mudiraj community. Why should Mudirajs vote for BRS which has no respect for our community?” Rajender said.
He said Rao was conspiring to gain Mudiraj community votes with the free distribution of fishlings and urged the community not to fall into this trap.
Meanwhile, Telangana Mudiraj Mahasabha president Ch Shankar Mudiraj echoed Rajendar’s statements, saying the BRS government had insulted the community and had been making every attempt to bring down their self-respect. He said Mudirajs were instrumental in BRS coming back to power in 2018 but were denied their due.
The body’s vice president P. Nageswara Mudiraj told the Deccan Chronicle that lakhs of people from all 119 constituencies turned up for the Mahasabha, which was organised to make their voice heard by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi for denying Assembly ticket to the community. “We are 15 per cent in population in the state and largest caste among BCs; yet, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao thought we don’t deserve representation in his party.”
