KARIMNAGAR: Finance minister Etela Rajender on Tuesday defended Manakondur MLA Rasamayi Balakishan who has been receiving a lot of flak over the suicide attempt by two Dalit youths over failure to get three acre land under a state government scheme. Terming the incident 'painful', he said that the MLA cared for Dalits and wanted them to to get land suitable for agriculture.Speaking to the media along with government chief whip Koppula Easwar and MLC Naradasu Laxman Rao, Rajender said about 650 acre of land had been distributed among Dalits in Illanthakunta mandal and 60 acre at Gudem village in Manakondur assembly constituency.
Over irregularities in land distribution, the minister said that investigation was on to find out if any representative of TRS was at fault. The VRO concerned had already been suspended, and strict action would be taken if anyone else was found at fault, Rajender said.The minister addedne of the youths, Mahankali Srinivas, was instigated to set himself on fire while trying to rescue Yalala Parushuramulu, the other youth. He claimed that no other government in the country had taken up welfare programmes for Dalits like TRS had.
Referring to the victims condition, the minister said that while Srinivas' condition was critical, Parushuram was out of danger. Both are being treated at Yashoda Hospitals in Hyderabad.
Criticising BJP, Rajender said he welcomed 'chai wala' Prime Minister, but wanted to know what the party had done for Dalits in the last three years. He said that the BJP and Congress were trying to create a false impression that TRS was an anti-Dalit one.