Vijayawada: Social welfare minister Merugu Nagarjuna challenged Telugu Desam leaders to participate in an open debate on development and attacks on Dalits. He refuted allegations of TD leaders regarding atrocities on Dalits under the Jagan Mohan Reddy government.
Addressing media here on Tuesday, he described as baseless allegations that a YSR Congress MLC is responsible for the death of a Dalit youth. He maintained that TD leaders were trying to provoke Dalits against YSRC with false propaganda following directions of TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The minister asserted that during the past four-and-a-half years, CM Jagan has put Dalits on the development path. Dalits are 28 per cent among the 31 lakh beneficiaries who have been allotted free house plots. “As per their population, they are entitled for 16 per cent but Jagan Mohan Reddy has given them a 28 per cent share,” he underlined.
Nagarjuna alleged that during the Chandrababu Naidu regime, Dalits had been treated in an inhuman way. For instance, a Dalit woman had been beaten and stripped. A Dalit MRO had been dragged by her hair by a TD MLA for stopping him from smuggling sand, he pointed out.
