KCR's Dalit outreach raises political dust ahead of by-poll

Ahead of the by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly constituency, Telangana is witnessing an intense political bickering between ruling TRS and the opposition parties over an ambitious scheme announced by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to woo Dalits.

The Dalit Bandhu scheme, aimed at providing financial assistance to identified Dalit families and promote entrepreneurship among them, has raised the political temperature in the state even before the announcement of the bypoll schedule by the Election Commission.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government going ahead with the launch of Dalit Bandhu as a pilot project in the Huzurabad constituency, the opposition parties have dubbed it as a poll stunt and questioned KCR's concern for Dalits.

The Chief Minister has defended his move for implementation of the scheme on pilot basis in Huzurabad saying there is nothing wrong if TRS was looking to derive political mileage from this. Citing the Chief Minister's statement, some NGOs have moved the Election Commission of India and even the high court seeking directions to stop the scheme.

Social activist Akkala Suresh Kumar has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Telangana High Court challenging Dalit Bandhu's implementation in Huzurabad. He argues that the government should start implementation of the scheme in any the 16 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes in the state. By-election to Huzurabad, which is an open Assembly seat, is likely to be held soon. The seat fell vacant last month with the resignation of former minister Eatala Rajender. He also quit TRS to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has already decided to give him the ticket for the bypoll.

Rajender's resignation from TRS and Assembly came after he was dropped from the Cabinet by KCR following allegations of land encroachment. The Forum for Good Governance, an NGO, recently urged the Election Commission of India to stop the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in Huzurabad.

Forum secretary M Padmanabha Reddy, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, stated that due to various reasons, the by-election has become a prestige issue for the ruling party. There is a general feeling that the result of this by-election will have an impact on the next Assembly elections. "I am not a saint living in Himalayas. I am a politician and I am introducing this scheme in Huzurabad for electoral gains only - what is wrong with it," the letter quoted the Chief Minister as saying at a recent party meeting.

Last week, KCR held a day-long meeting with 450 Dalit representatives from Huzurabad to discuss the implementation of the scheme. He stated that by making the scheme a success in Huzurabad, it should be made a torchbearer for the Dalit community in the entire country. He claimed that the Telangana Dalit Bandhu Scheme is being implemented to remove economic disparity and also social discrimination of the Dalits.

KCR desired that with the financial assistance given under the scheme, the Dalit community should develop itself as a business community by selecting industries, employment, and business of their choice. Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each will be provided to eligible beneficiaries from Dalit community.