E-Paper
TRS gives notice for privilege motion against Union minister
As many as nine Lok Sabha members of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Wednesday gave a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking to move a privilege motion against Union minister of state for tribal affairs Bishweswar Tudu for misleading the House on increasing the quota for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Telangana
As many as nine Lok Sabha members of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Wednesday gave a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking to move a privilege motion against Union minister of state for tribal affairs Bishweswar Tudu for misleading the House on increasing the quota for Scheduled Tribes (STs) in Telangana.
The MPs submitted the notice under Rule 222 of the Lok Sabha regulations. The Union minister, while replying to a question raised by Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday, said there was no proposal from the Telangana government on increasing reservation to the STs in the state.
The MPs said in the notice that the Telangana government had not only made a proposal to increase the quota but also passed a bill in the state assembly in 2017, increasing the reservations from 6.8% to 10% and sent it to the Union ministry of tribal affairs. Stating that the Union ministry had also acknowledged the state’s request in a letter dated December 18, 2017, the notice said, “So, Union minister’s answer amounts to breach of privileges of the members.”
Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, TRS parliamentary party leader K Keshava Rao said the minister had deliberately misled the House stating that there was no such proposal from the Telangana government.
“There is not only a proposal but a Bill passed by the state legislature. The ministry of home affairs had also given its consent,” he said. Back home, the TRS cadres also burnt the effigies of the Centre for lying on the increased reservations for the STs. The TRS cadres also demanded that the Union minister be sacked.
State finance minister T Harish Rao said the Centre had insulted the tribals by claiming that the state government had not sent any proposals.
“The Telangana state assembly had passed a unanimous resolution to increase the ST reservations and sent it to the Union government. Our chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao also had written twice to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Tribal welfare minister Satyavathi Rathod and the officials wrote numerous letters to the Centre in this regard,” he pointed out.
