The Kudumbi community will take an anti-Congress stance in the coming Lok Sabha elections, P S Ramachandran, the general secretary of the Kudumbi Seva Sangh, said while inaugurating the Kudumbi Mahasangamam in Kochi on Sunday.
The decision was taken in protest against the continuous disregard for their pleas to include them in the Scheduled Caste category, he said. Ramachandran said that the then KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala had promised to include the Kudumbis in the Scheduled Caste Category.
“ But the promise was not fulfilled even after he became a minister. Earlier, Union Minister K V Thomas had also held a discussion with the Chief Minister in this regard. But the latter washed off his hand asking K V Thomas to get us one percent reservation. But, even that was not fulfilled,” he said.
Ramachandran pointed out that in Goa, Kudumbis come under the Scheduled Caste category.
“But if Kudumbis cannot be included in the SC category, they should be included at least in the ST category. Instead of taking such an initiative, the government went ahead with a socio-economic survey. Hence there is no point in voting for such a party,” he said.
‘’As the Kudumbis do not have banks, they do not get the deserving benefits. This is happening at a place which gives special reservation to dalit Christians and other communities. Still the government is not ready to give even one percent of reservation to us,” Ramachandran said.
Taking an anti-Congress stance, the Kudumbis will support independent candidate and member of the Kudumbi community K V Bhaskaran. P R Murali, acting president of the Kudumbi Seva Sangham, presided over the meeting. T J Raju, vice-president, and N Rajappan, treasurer, spoke. Manoj will contest as a dummy candidate.