Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha on Sunday virtually ran away from media after he was cornered about the government keeping mum on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes sub-plan.
It is mandatory for the government to allocate about 23 per cent of budget towards the sub-plan. Though the government makes the allocation, the spending is below 10 per cent and in many cases, the funds are diverted to other works. Several Opposition parties and social organisations have called for Chalo Assembly on Monday in protest against the ineffective spending.
The Deputy Chief Minister, who had indeed raised the issue earlier with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, convened a press conference at the Secretariat on Sunday to appeal to the organisations to withdraw the proposed stir. Minister G. Prasad Kumar and two MPs, S. Rajaiah and Balaram Naik also accompanied Mr Raja Narasimha.
Referring to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, highlighting the need for legal sanctity for sub-plan, Mr Raja Narasimha said that the state had been considering a nodal agency to monitor the spending under the sub-plan on the lines of Maharashtra and Karnataka. He said steps would be taken to prevent diversion of funds. The Deputy Chief Minister also denied the contention that the government revived the talk of nodal agency in view of 72-hour agitation on the issue.
He announced that all the SC and ST legislators would meet on Monday afternoon and submit a memorandum to Mr Kiran Kumar Reddy. “We are hopeful of a positive outcome of the meeting with the Chief Minister,”
When cornered about the delay in constituting the agency, a proposal which the state has been giving assurances for the past several years, Mr Raja Narasimha abruptly called off the press conference.
He said, “The media conference is over,” leaving the scribes confused.