PR admits to BC list fudge

BY J.R.PRASAD

Hyderabad, April 14: The Praja Rajyam has admitted that it has not given tickets to 104 backward classes candidates, a claim it was making to hype its “social justice.”

The allegation that the party had fudged figures was made by the former PR general secretary, Mr P. Prabhakar. The party president, Chiranjeevi, was so stung by the allegations that he threatened to quit politics if the charge were proved.

On Monday, Chiranjeevi’s actor-son, Ram Charan Teja acknowledged that 14 non-BCs had been included in the list. He was speaking to mediapersons at Bapatla, where he is participating in the Praja Rail Yatra.

In a giveaway, Charan said even if the 14 persons belonged to other castes, the Praja Rajyam had still given 90 seats to BCs, the highest among all parties.

The party’s vice-preside-nt, Mr T. Devender Goud, said there was some dispute on the caste of some contestants like Mr C. Ramachan-draiah, who belongs to the Balija caste. The Balijas are considered BCs in some places and OC at others.

BC organisations are up in arms over the allotment of tickets to non-BCs in the guise of BCs. Leaders of the BC organisations, like Mr R. Krishnaiah (BC Samksh-ema Sangham), Mr G. Krishna (BC Praja Samiti) and Mr S. Ramkoti (BC Ikya Vedika) demanded that the PR should release the names of all 104 candidates who it claimed belon-ged to the backward castes.

The TD chief, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, faulted the PR chief for allotting tickets to OCs in the guise of BCs. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, said, “Is it the change that the PR leadership has been harping on? None other than Chiranjeevi’s son is making light of the issue by saying that only 14 persons were OCs.”