Kudmi mohants to contest Panchayat elections in Orissa

Baripada, Jun 20 (UNI) The''Kudmi Mohantos'' of Orissa demanding Scheduled Tribe(ST) status over the decades have decided to contest the forthcoming three-tier Panchayati Raj elections in Orissa without any electoral understanding with any political party.

The state executive committee of the Orissa Kudmi Mohanto Mahasabha (OKMM), which met here yesterday, decided to field its own nominees from Ward member level to the Zilla Parishad level in areas predominantly inhabited by the Kudmi community.

OKMM General Secretary Basanta Kumar Mohanto said though all the mainstream political parties have sought the support of the Kudmi Mohantos during the elections with tall promises of giving the ST status,they were yet to be included in the ST list.

He described the exclusion of the Kudmis from the ST list as a ''political conspiracy'' and asserted that the Kudmis would continue to fight for reinclusion in the scheduled list.

In Orissa the Kudmis have nearly 20 lakhs population with large concentrations in Mayurbhanj,Keonjhar,Sundargarh, Jajpur, Sambalpur and Cuttack districts.

Mr Mohanto said the Kudmi Mohanto community was never given an opportunity to send their representative to the state assembly or to the Rajya Sabha from Orissa.

They were also denied to hold any post in any key posts in any of the mainstream political parties he said adding now they would organise the outfit at the grassroots level and hoped their presence in the Panchayat elections would bring encouraging success.

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