Ministers request Mala Mahanadu leader to give up fast

Hyderabad, June 2 (UNI) A few ministers, led by Social Welfare Minister Pilli Subashchandra Bose today visited Mala Mahanadu president Jupudi Prabhakara Rao, who is on an indefinite fast protesting against categorization of the SCs into A, B, C, D and persuaded him to give up the fast.

Malas and Madigas are two important sub-sects of the SCs. While Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) representing the Madiga sub-sect wants categorization of the SCs, Mala Mahanadu, representing Malas, is opposing it.

Recently Manda Krishna Madiga, the founder-president of the MRPS went on an indefinite hunger strike, following which, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy called for an all-party meeting.

Later an all-party delegation led by Mr Bose met Krishna Madiga and persuaded him to give up fast.

Meanwhile, Jupudi Prabhakara Rao started fast, opposing the categorization.

When the ministers-- Mr Bose, Ms Gita Reddy, Gollapalli Surya Rao and Vinod visited Jupudi's camp today, Mala Mahanadu's workers initially did not allow them to talk to their leader. They demanded that the Chief Minister himself should come and engage talk with the leader.

Mr Jupudi demanded that the Usha Mehra Commission appointed by the government be immediately abolished and a delegation of the representatives of Malas be taken to New Delhi. He also wanted a the constitution of a high-level committee to go into the issue of categorization.

The ministers assured Mr Jupudi that they would take his suggestions to the notice of Dr Reddy.

It is reliably learnt that the Chief Minister spoke to Mala leader and asked him to give up the fast to resolve the issue through talks.

Meanwhile, CPI(M) state secretary B V Raghavulu advised both the MRPS and the Mala Mahanadu to exercise restraint.

UNI