Reiterating the Congress party’s commitment towards the downtrodden sections, the newly-appointed TPCC president Bomma Mahesh Kumar Goud said that the proposed State committees will have 60% representation for SCs, STs and BCs.
Speaking at a felicitation programme organised by former Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao at Ravindra Bharathi on Thursday, Mr. Goud said that the Congress, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, was committed to caste census. Stating that he was a “BC arrow” released by Mr. Gandhi, the TPCC chief said that with the support of Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, he would work for the welfare of BCs.
Mr. Goud added that Congress has patent on the BC caste census and the BJP and BRS have no right to own up the BC agenda. Challenging the two parties to appoint a BC as State unit chiefs, Mr. Goud wondered why a BC leader like Bandi Sanjay Kumar was unceremoniously shunted out as the party chief. He also questioned why Mr. Sanjay was given Minister of State rank instead of Cabinet rank in Union Government.
He said that Congress leaders and cadre would stick to Mr. Gandhi’s mission of ‘Jiski Jithni Aabaadi, Uski utni bhagedari’ (The greater the population, the greater their participation). Mr. Goud recalled how the party reposed faith in him by directing him to read out the BC Declaration at the Kamareddy public meeting ahead of Assembly elections last year.
He praised Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy for naming the Women’s University after revolutionary Chakali Ilamma.
“Rahul Gandhi is the future of our nation,” he said, and thanked several senior leaders, who recommended his name for the PCC chief post. “The party knows how to utilise the services of senior leaders like Madhu Yaskhi Goud, Laxman Kumar and Balram Naik,” he said and promised to give recognition to all downtrodden communities in the PCC committees.
Census
Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar recalled how he and Mr. Goud started their political innings as NSUI workers. “We fought for our rights and without any godfather, we have reached this position,” he said adding that as the BC Welfare Minister, he had introduced BC Census Bill in the Assembly and within a week of constitution of the BC Commission, a panel has been constituted to study census. He said the local bodies’ polls will be held as per the BC reservations only.
Among others, Tribal Welfare Minister Danasari Anusuya alias Seethakka, Advisor to Government K. Kesava Rao, Goverment Whip Adi Srinivas, MLA Amir Ali Khan, Agriculture Commission chairman M. Kodanda Reddy, various corporation chiefs – E. Anil Kumar Shiva Sena Reddy, Preetham, Mettu Sai Kumar, Kalva Sujatha, Challa Narasimha Reddy, Muthineni Veeraiah, Nirmala Jagga Reddy, Khairatabad DCC chief Rohin Reddy, former Minister Shanker Rao and party MLAs and PCC senior leaders attended.
Published - September 19, 2024 07:39 pm IST
