VIJAYAWADA: Continuing with his policy of social justice, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday chose 11 of the total 18 candidates belonging to the Backward Castes (BC) to contest for the MLC elections. A total of 16 MLCs would be elected on March 13 from the local bodies and MLA quotas, while two others would be nominated under the Governor quota after a couple of months.
The ruling YSRC also chose two candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), one from Scheduled Tribes (ST) and four from Other Castes (OC). The party is set to win all the seats as it has a clear majority in the local bodies as well as in Assembly.
Once the 18 MLC posts are filled, the total strength of YSRC will be 44 of which 19 would be BCs.
In all, 68.18% of the YSRC MLCs would be from BC, SC and ST communities. On the other hand, the TDP had allocated 62.5% seats to OCs during its term.
During a meeting held with YSRC candidates at his camp office ahead of the MLC elections, Jagan reaffirmed his government’s commitment to social justice and called on them to ensure its outreach to every doorstep in each constituency.
“Of the 18 seats announced, we are fielding 14 from SCs, STs, BCs and minorities, while the remaining four are OCs, including a candidate from the Kamma community. This shows the YSRC’s commitment to rendering social justice to the weaker sections, something that has never happened in politics,” the CM remarked.
Stressing the need to strengthen the party at the grassroots level, he asked the candidates to be active during the party’s programmes.
“A section of media is indulging in false propaganda against the party. Keeping this in mind, the candidates should raise their voice by being active and bold,” he said and added that with just 13 to 14 months left, preparations for the 2024 elections should begin.
“Those taking responsibility as MLCs should take steps to ideate on what the party can do to win all 175 seats in 2024,’’ Jagan said and urged the chosen candidates to work with the aspirants to provide better governance to the people.
Meanwhile, YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy pointed out that this is not the first time Jagan has vouched for equal representation of the backward communities.
“In 2019, when Jagan formed his cabinet of 25 ministers, 56% were from SC, ST, OBC communities and minority sections. Sticking to the same motto of fair social representation, Jagan appointed close to 70% of SC, ST, BC and minority leaders in his cabinet after the rejig in April 2022. This can be seen as an example of how a promise to strengthen the downtrodden communities in the society has been fulfilled by giving them massive representation in governance,” he opined.