Anti-YS Rajasekhara Reddy campaign gets louder

                                                                         
Panabaka Lakshmi, who was in Krishna district on Friday, told the media that the dalits did not get any benefit when YSR was chief minister. In Hyderabad, Nagarkurnool Lok Sabha MP told TOI that the dalit welfare programmes suffered a huge setback during the tenure of YSR. "If one looks at the diversion of funds meant for the welfare of the scheduled castes and tribes, there is no doubt that the late CM was anti-dalit" Jagannatham said.

According to the Congress MP, some ruling party leaders have been carried away by the hero-worship of YSR. "I respect YSR as a strong leader. However, when it comes to the issue of injustice he did to my community, I would not hesitate to criticize him," he said, adding that YSR had never shown any respect for the constitutional mandate in the matter of social justice.

Stating that he has perused through the reports of the parliamentary committees on social welfare, Jagannatham said YSR diverted the funds given by the Centre for the welfare of the SCs and STs to other programmes. "While the TDP regime diverted Rs 6000 crore meant for SC/STs, fund diversion by the YSR government rose to a staggering Rs 18,000 crore. Because of the continuous neglect of the SC/ST communities, the diversion amount has now crossed Rs 24,000 crore," he said. Jagannatham also claimed that the SEZ policy pursued by YSR pauperized the SC and STs. "See the displaced people of Jedcherla SEZ. All are either SCs or Lambadas, an ST community. All of them have lost their land. Now, these people have no place even to bury their dead. Who else should be blamed for this other than YSR?" the Congress MP asked.

According to Jagannatham, YSR refused to take grants from the central institutes because he did not want to keep alive financial corporations. As a result, all the financial institutions meant to assist the weaker sections were killed. "Institutions such as the SC Finance Corporation , ST Finance Corporation and BC Corporation became non-functional in Andhra Pradesh since the time of YSR," he said.