BJP against reservations for Lambadas: Harish Rao

T Harish Rao said the Bharatiya Janata Party was against reservations being given to Lambadas in the State

Sangareddy: Finance Minister T Harish Rao said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was against reservations being given to Lambadas in the State. BJP leaders were in fact asking for the removal of Lambadas from ST reservation purview, he said.

Addressing the 25th Telangana Banjara Seva Sangh (TBESS) meeting in Patancheru on Saturday, Rao said the Telangana government under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao had kept all the promises made to Schedule Tribes in the State.

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Saying that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government had increased the reservations for STs from 6 percent to 10 percent, he said the job aspirants and students will benefit in large numbers from the increase of reservations.

Several other States were planning to replicate the Telangana model now. Rao said that the government has set up a huge number of women’s residential colleges for tribals during the past eight years which discouraged child marriages. Schemes like Kalyana Lakshmi also discouraged child marriages.

Charging the Centre with ignoring the promise of setting up a tribal university in the State despite the State government allotting 317 acres of land at Gattamma Gudi in Mulugu district, Harish Rao demanded union Minister G Kishan Reddy to come up with an explanation.

The Minister also praised the work of the TBESS for the benefit of the Banjaras across the State and assured to allot land and funds to build a Banjara Bhavan in Patancheru besides taking up their demand of the declaring Santh Sevalal Jayanthi as a State level holiday with the State government.

A huge number of tribal employees from across the State attended the TBESS meeting. MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy, MLC K Ragotham Reddy, President of TBESS P Rathod and others were present.