All-party meet decides to take delegation

Hyderabad, May 21 (UNI) The all-party meeting, convened by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on the categorisation of the Scheduled Castes, today decided to take an all-party delegation to the National SC Commission and present its argument in favour of categorisation.

The all-party meeting was called in the wake of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) founder-president Manda Krishna Madiga resorting to indefinite fast, demanding immediate decision on the categorisation of the SCs.

The meeting which lasted for 15 minutes, also decided to direct the State SC Commission to study the issue and give a report within three months. It was also decided to send a delegation to Manda Krishna Madiga and request him to withdraw his hunger strike.

The opposition criticised the government, saying it had only informed the leaders from different parties about its decision and had not elicited their opinion. They said there was no discussion on the vital issue.

Earlier, ''Mala Mahanadu'' representatives, who were opposing categorisation of the SCs, tried to gherao leaders of different parties attending the all-party meeting.

Leaders of the ''Mahanadu'' said 80 lakh Malas (a sub-sect of SCs) had reposed faith in Dr Reddy and voted for him during the last elections and the result was that he was now trying to separate ''Malas'' from ''Madigas''. ''Who gave you the right to separate us,'' one of the ''Mala'' leaders questioned.

''Madigas'', another sub-sect of the SCs, had been demanding categorisation and reservations in accordance with the population, alleging that the ''Malas'' were depriving ''Madigas'' of the jobs and educational opportunities due to them.

UNI