VIJAYAWADA: The Chief Minister, Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, launched “Dalita Tejam”, a TD programme focusing on the development of the Dalits, immediately after reaching home from the Davos tour. The CM who could not attend the Republic Day celebrations reached the city on Friday evening.
At the launch of the Dalita Tejam programme, Mr Naidu said that the programme was inspired by the teachings of the Father of the Constitution Dr B.R. Ambedkar and the late NTR. Mr Naidu said that it was Dr Ambedkar who had brought light to everyone’s lives and added that it was the late NTR who had provided reservation for the Dalits.
He recalled that the late NTR had said the Backward Classes were the foundation of the party and that he had closely worked with freedom fighter and Dalit leader, the late Babu Jagjivan Ram. Mr Naidu said it was NDA that had given the Bharat Ratna award to Babu Jagjivan Ram and not the Congress.
The Chief Minister spoke about supporting Balayogi as Lok Sabha Speaker, and said that TD had appointed Mahendranath as finance minister for the first time and reiterated that it was only the TD government that meted out justice to the scheduled castes.
The Chief Minister also said that the government will work hard for the development of the scheduled castes but for this unity amongst the Dalits was important. Assuring them of his party’s support, he also urged the TD cadre to support and move forward under the leadership of Dalits.
The CM committed to providing '40,000 through Chandranna Pelli kanuka and completing the backlog. He mentioned about '9,500 crore worth SC sub-plan being implemented and assured that the TD would support the Dalit children in competitive examinations.
CM misses Republic Day
The Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, could not make it to the Republic Day celebrations thanks to the delay of his flight to Vijayawada. As per the schedule, Mr Naidu was to reach Vijayawada early on Friday morning by 7 am. But the deteriorating weather conditions had forced him to break his journey and stay back in Abu Dhabi. He reached home only on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, different opinions were expressed in his absence. The general consensus was that the CM should have tried coming on Thursday in view of the Republic Day celebration of Friday. In his absence, Mr Naidu’s wife Ms N. Bhuvaneswari attended Republic Day celebrations. Prior to the participation, Ms Bhuvaneswari hoisted the National Flag at the CM’s residence in Undavalli.
This has been the first time that a Chief Minister of AP was not present for Republic Day. Neither in unified AP nor post bifurcation. The Chief Minister, Mr Naidu had also planned his schedule to attend the celebrations. He had started his return journey from Davos Thursday itself to reach Vijayawada by Friday morning. According to the schedule, he should have participated in the flag hoisting along with the Governor at 11.25 am. But with unfavorable weather conditions, Mr Naidu had to stay back in Abu Dhabi. With this, the Republic Day celebrations continued in the absence of the Chief Minister.
The Deputy Chief Minister received the Governor in the absence of the Chief Minister. Along with Deputy Chief Minister, Minister Kamineni Srinivas, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Speaker Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, Kala Venkata Rao, Kollu Ravindra, Sidda Raghava Rao and others also participated in the Republic Day celebrations.
Ms Bhuvaneswari along with her grandson Devansh attended the celebrations. Devansh became the special attraction in the programme. Even at Chief Minister’s residence in Undavalli, Ms Bhuvaneswari hoisted the National Flag in the Chief Minister’s absence. She garlanded the photo frame of Gandhiji and distributed sweets.
The Chief Minister thought of attending the Governor’s home celebrations in Hyderabad, but even that programme got canceled.
