Representatives of Ambedkar India Mission, All India Dalit Forum, Joint Action Committee of Scheduled Castes and Communities, Balaga Foundation and others, on Tuesday, passed a resolution, asking political parties to allocate at least two seats for scheduled castes and communities in Srikakulam district.
They held a public meeting at Tekkali in Srikakulam to highlight the political injustice meted out to them, with eight Assembly seats coming under the general category after Rajam (SC reserved) shifted to Vizianagaram and Palakonda (ST constituency) now coming under the newly created Parvatipuram-Manyam district jurisdiction.
Speaking in the public meeting organised by JAC of Dalit communities, Balaga Foundation president Balaga Prakash alleged that the officials had failed to keep at least one seat for Dalit communities, while proposing the bifurcation of districts.
“A few families have been dominating Srikakulam politics for the last five decades. For them, Dalits are only voters. . Now is the right time to raise their voice for political justice which will uplift the downtrodden sections in the near future,” said Mr. Balaga Prakash.
Joint Action Committee president of Scheduled Castes and Communities Kantha Venu asked the parties to give seats for SCs and STs in general category. All India Dalit Forum’s Srikakulam wing secretary Yejjala Gurumurthy said that SCs and STs had been supporting leaders in general seats, and now it was the time for them to extend their support to leaders from the downtrodden sections.
Ambedkar India Mission’s Sainik wing convener Taekwando Srinu said that over 5 lakh people belonged to SC and ST communities in Srikakulam district, and they needed to have political representation. Representatives of all the organisations, led by Mr. Balaga Prakash vowed to meet the presidents of all political parties for the allocation of general seats for scheduled castes.
