CM: Congress Imbibed Spirit Of Ambedkar To Uplift Exploited

Speaking at the 287th birth anniversary of Sant Sri Sevalal Maharaj at Banjara Bhavan here, the Chief Minister spoke of his decision to elevate a Dalit as the Assembly Speaker and made some people, who had deceived the community with a false promise of making a Dalit the Chief Minister, address him with honour. “That is the beauty of democracy, and the Congress has imbibed the spirit of Dr B.R. Ambedkar to empower the downtrodden,” he said. “They (indirectly referring to BRS president and former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao) are not able to digest it.”

The Chief Minister said the state government was committed to providing education of international standards to the poor by building 250 integrated residential schools that can accommodate 2,500 students each. He directed officials to take immediate steps to provide basic infrastructure facilities like black-topped roads, gram panchayat buildings, safe drinking water and solar pump sets. “We will provide funds for the school buildings, he added.

Revanth Reddy said that 20 acres of land had been acquired in the Nallamala Achampet forest area to develop the Sant Sevalal shrine, and an effort was on to complete the construction of the temple next year and organise the saint’s jayanti celebrations there with lakhs of devotees.

Referring to the victory of the Congress in the urban local bodies, the Chief Minister sought to provide context to his “nene raju.. nene mantri” remark. He said he had used the term in a different context but the Opposition had been trying to portray it in a bad light. He said: “When asked about the municipal polls, I said I am the Chief Minister and I am the municipal minister and hence will take full responsibility for the outcome.”

Revanth Reddy also stressed that he would take any poll result in his own stride and continue to serve the people. “I will not be elated by success or depressed in the event of defeat. I have completed 20 years of public service through politics and I will continue for another 20 years,” he added.

He said that taking inspiration from Sant Sri Sevalal Maharaj's service to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, the Congress government was implementing a number of people's welfare schemes especially for the ST community in getting admissions in educational institutions, job opportunities in the government sector.

Revanth Reddy said that at least 3.17 crore people in the state are being supplied with free fine rice, and an additional 51 lakh poor families are being provided with 200 units of free electricity every month. The government had incurred a huge expenditure of `9,000 crore in implementing free bus services for women. The cosmetics charges of tribal students were being increased by 200 per cent.

The Chief Minister explained that 70,000 government vacancies had been filled, including 563 in Group-1 services, of which a majority had been given to the downtrodden classes. People living in urban localities had chosen the Congress by electing the party’s candidates after taking into consideration of the government's people-friendly welfare measures.