TRS promises to hike quota for Lambadas to 12%

Hyderabad, Oct 1 (UNI) The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) today wooed the Lambadas (Scheduled Tribes) with an eye on 'probable'snap polls by promising to enhance reservation for them to 12 per cent as and when the Telangana state was formed.

Accepting over 2000 Lambadas into partyfold, TRS President K Chandrasekara Rao said ''the first file I will sign in the new Telangana state will be the one increasing the quantum of reservation for Lambadas to 12 per cent.'' The TRS Supremo also promised to ''issue an Ordinance'' to recognise Lamada Thandas as Gram Panchayats and nurture their independent identity. He also assured them to get enhanced grants from the Centre.

Mr Rao, who was quick to promise free power to peasants in Telangana for 12 hours in the backdrop of TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu's announcement of a similar promise, appealed to the Lambadas and the farming community not to get carried away by the ''crocodile tears'' shed by Mr Naidu.

Mr Naidu had dubbed agriculture as ''waste'' and foisted cases on debt-ridden farmers when they could not repay power charges and refused to sanction an ex-gratia of Rs one lakh to the families of the farmers who had committed suicide saying it would aggravate suicidal tendency, he said.

He said incidence of suicides among farmers and starvation death of handloom weavers, witnessed in the previous TDP regime, continued unabated during the Congress regime.

''We will form our own Telangana state and draw power for as much as 15 hours. No justice is possible whether it is in allocation of water or jobs in the unified set up,'' he said.

Soon after the formation of Hyderabad state, Rs 63 crore surplus Budget was presented and only because of the long years of ''misrule'' by ''Andhra rulers,'' the Telangana Region had been pushed into backwardness, he claimed.

UNI