Oppn demands Rs 1000 crore for minorities welfare

Hyderabad, Nov 19 (UNI) Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh Assembly today urged the State Government to allocate Rs 1,000 crore for minorities welfare.

Initiating a short duration discussion on Muslims welfare, TDP Legislature Party Deputy leader T Devender Goud urged the government to constitute a high-power committee headed by the Chief Minister for monitoring the implementation of welfare schemes for them.

Charging the ruling Congress with adopting double standards, the TDP legislator said it was unfortunate that the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre had informed the Supreme Court that it was against ''religion-based reservation,'' even as the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh claimed it would provide reservation for Muslims at any cost.

Muslims were denied the benefit and the ruling Congress was putting the blame on courts and ''cheating''them, he alleged.

Claiming credit for the UPA Government constituting the Sachar Committee to go into the condition of Muslims in the country, former TRS Minister Nayini Narasimha Reddy contended that it was TRS President and former Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekara Rao, who put the issue before the UPA coalition partners.

Pressing for implementation of the recommendations of Mr Justice Sachar, the TRS member said the report should not suffer the fate of the UPA Committee headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to study the issue of statehood for Telangana.

The Centre and the Andhra Pradesh Government should implement the recomendations in toto, he added.

UNI