Hyderabad: Cash-for-vote scam accused and TD Christian cell leader Bishop R. Harry Sebastian, who claims he is the national Bishop of All India Independent Churches Diocese, on Thursday demanded that CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao focus on the major issues being faced by the community and deliver on election promises, instead of gifting clothes and arranging lunch for Christians on December 25.
Refusing to speak on his alleged role as a mediator in the cash-for-vote scam saying that the issue was sub-judice, he accused the CM of distributing clothes with an eye on the GHMC elections.
Bishop Sebastian said that Mr Rao has forgotten the promises he had made to Christians before the elections and was neglecting the community. “Christians in the state are facing many problems, the most important being lack of graveyards in the city. No Christian is given a co-option member seat or any posts in the government,” he said.
He demanded that government give 7 per cent reservations to Christians.
“Last year, they announced a Christian Bhavan, but it remains on paper. We demand land for burial grounds and that the government take up the cause of thousands of independent pastors in the state,” he Bishop Sebastian said.
As per the TRS 2014 election manifesto, the only poll promise made to Christians was ‘special burial grounds’.
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