VIJAYAWADA: State BC Welfare minister Venugopalakrishna said on Tuesday that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s administration helped Backward Communities raise their self-esteem in Andhra Pradesh.
BC people got major positions in both the state government and the YSRC party since 2019, he said, adding that the fee reimbursement scheme introduced by the Jagan-led government turned out to be a boon to the poor. The Vidya Deevena, Amma Odi, Vasathi Deevena and Gorumudda schemes are also helping the BCs in education.
The minister refuted the allegation of the Opposition parties that there was no BC development in AP during Jagan’s rule. He said the Chandrababu-led TD government during 2014-19 reduced the fee reimbursement given to poor students. This caused trouble to the BCs. “Jagan as chief minister is offering full fee reimbursement to BCs.”
The TD under Chandrababu treated BCs as vote banks but Jagan as CM honoured BCs and treated them as “backbone classes,” the minister claimed.
Venugopalakrishna said the Kallu Geetha (toddy tappers) community largely benefited from the steps of the YSRC government to help the toddy-tapping community. “This government has increased the compensation to Rs 10 lakh for families of toddy tappers who die by falling off trees they work on. The Kallu Geetha workers are thanking the chief minister for this,” he said.
He said the chief minister introduced the Kallu Gita policy and took a key decision through GO-693 for the welfare of the Gowda, Settibalija, Srisaina, Yata, Ediga sub-castes as well as Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The chief minister is standing behind all the BCs, he said, adding that the CM made him a minister and gave chairmen posts of corporations to five others from the Kallu Geetha sub-castes.
The minister recalled that the toddy tapping community had not been showing any interest in educating their children due to their financial difficulties. But YS Rajasekhar Reddy offered fee reimbursement to them, which helped the students from these communities to go for higher education. Lakhs of children from BC castes availed the opportunity and went abroad for higher education, he said.
Gubbala Thammaiah, chairman of the Setty Balija corporation, Madhu Sivaramakrishna, chairman of the Gowda corporation, Pilli Sujatha, chairman of the Yata corporation and K Santu, chairman of the Eediga corporation, were also present at the press meet.
