AP Govt to constitute SC, ST Commission soon

Hyderabad, Feb 26 (UNI) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today announced that the government would constitute the SC/ST Commission within one or two months.

The Chief Minister announced this in the state assembly when the House re-assembled after adjournment amid pandemonium when Speaker K R Suresh Reddy rejected the adjournment motion notice of the opposition parties on the problems of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

It is untrue that the Commission was not re-constituted after its term was over two years ago as alleged by the opposition, Dr Reddy said adding the term of Justice Punnaiah Commission lapsed only about four or five months ago.

He said the Congress was committed to the welfare of the SCs and STs and followed the policies enunciated by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr B R Ambedkar.

When the opposition members jeered the ruling party for its claim to be descendants of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar, Legislative Affairs Minister K Rosaiah advised the opposition members to allow the Chief Minister to complete his statement without interruption.

The Speaker also reprimanded TDP member D Narendra Kumar, who rushed to the podium and made threatening gestures at the ruling party members.

Stating that his government had increased the reservation for the SCs and STs to 25 per cent, the Chief Minister said a Monitoring Committee was also set up under Principal Secretary, Planning, to review the implementation of the reservations.

Referring to the indefinite fast by CPI(M) politburo member B V Raghavulu, Dr Reddy said he would send his cabinet colleagues Koneru Ranga Rao and Mareppa to urge him to withdraw his hunger strike on the issue.

When CPI(M) leader Nomula Narasimhaiah suggested to the Chief Minister to undertake 'Dalit Bata' (mission to know the problems of Dalits) as he had undertaken 'Palle Bata' (Mission to villages) and Nagara Bata (Mission to cities), Dr Reddy said he could not understand what the CPI(M) leader meant by 'Dalit Bata' and assured him that he had no objection to undertake such a mission.

UNI