HYDERABAD: Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Bishweswar Tudu as he had spoken untruth about the increase of reservations to STs in Telangana.
In reply to a question, Tudu had told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Union government did not receive any proposal on increasing reservations to STs in employment and education. Responding to this, Harish Rao told the media that the Union Minister lied on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
Demanding an unconditional apology from Tudu for “insulting the tribals”, Harish Rao called upon the people to take out BJP’s cortege in Gondu villages, colleges and universities across the State.
He said that TRS MPs would move a privilege motion against the Union government for misleading the Lok Sabha on ST reservations. He said that TRS MPs would stall the proceedings of the Lok Sabha on Wednesday demanding that the Centre should approve the resolution adopted by the Telangana Assembly. The Assembly had adopted a resolution in 2017 itself requesting the Centre to allow the State to increase reservations to STs. Later, Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod dashed off several letters to Union Ministers Amit Shah, Arjun Munda and others. In their replies, the Union Ministers gave various reasons, including that a case was pending in the Supreme Court.
Despite their replies, Tudu said that the Centre did not receive any proposal from the State on the increase of reservations to STs.
“Tudu’s statement is misleading and insulted the STs of Telangana,” Harish Rao said. He recalled that when the State Legislative adopted the Bill seeking enhancement of reservations to STs, Uttam Kumar Reddy and G Kishan Reddy were MLAs.
Uttam asked a question in the Lok Sabha now whether the Centre received any proposal. Instead, Uttam Kumar Reddy might have asked about the status of Telangana’s resolution on increasing reservations to STs, Harish Rao said. He also released the letters by the Union Ministers to the State government on ST reservations.
Mourn ‘death of truth’, Harish tells people
Demanding an unconditional apology from Tudu for “insulting the tribals”, Harish Rao called upon the people to take out BJP’s cortege in Gondu villages, colleges and universities