Hyderabad: Health minister Damodar Rajanarsimha said the historic verdict given by the Supreme Court, allowing states to sub-classify the Scheduled Castes communities for the purposes of reservations, was not against anyone. He said the Madiga community would be indebted to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for promising to implement it in the state soon.
Addressing a meeting of the Madiga community on Saturday, the minister said, “Revanth Reddy took the initiative and sent us to represent our views in the Supreme Court. We will hold a big meeting of Madigas on August 16 and 17 in the presence of Revanth Reddy.”
Former MLA Sampath Kumar said the Usha Mehra Committee which delved into the conditions of the Madigas had opined that the states ought to be given the right to categorise. BRS did not do anything to speed up the process. Revanth Reddy had supported the demand when he was TD MLA many years ago, Sampath Kumar said.
Former minister Mothkupalli Narasimhulu recalled that Madigas would not dare to identify themselves by their community when he first became MLA in 1983. “It was NTR who gave recognition to Madigas. It was he who performed my marriage and hosted a dinner.” Narasimhulu welcomed the CM’s decision to implement the categorisation in the forthcoming Group-1 exam.
MLA and government whip Adluri Laxman, former minister Pushpa Leela, Manakondur MLA Kavvampally Satyanarayana and Nakrekal MLA Vemula Veeresham also spoke.
